I was born ugly no really I was my
grandma Washington said so born dark
much too dark grandma and Washington
born and bred and the South half white
big woman when she walked in the room
you knew she was in the room log native
black hair smooth all of olay skin and
soft hands that never had to supper
button on any man’s shirt
grandma Washington believed and being
well fed and feeding on Sunday she made
hot molasses tea and tea cakes with real
cane sugar
grandma Washington judged black folk and
white folk and poor folk and rich folk
and skinny folk and fat folk and just
about every kind of folk to her looks
were everything and you dare not
embarrass grandma Washington for if you
did she would send you back down the
river back down the cold steel waters
where you came from
you’re much too dark much too different
to be part of her southern history dears
grandma Washington Southern women are no
Southern Belles we are rebels whose
stories transcend the southern stereo
type of the black mani or the dutiful
wife standing by her man
or the daughter who says yes man when
she means no and please know this we
don’t all marry our cousins or have sex
at 14 willingly our climb trees with
skirts on Southern women are no Southern
Belles yes we are rebels our storyline
transcends us standing barefoot in the
kitchen cooking cornbread for supper
marching and protesting and knocking
down the doors of mediocracy a southern
woman’s power comes from her power to
reveal her power to raise hell the
stereotype of the southern woman as some
dignified matriarch that is a submissive
fool to the world just ain’t at all true
y’all and yes we say y’all and what’s it
to you I ain’t no southern belle I came
here to give them hell
I came to rebell and the church said and
the church said again ignoring sweet
daily southern rituals with me removing
the need to be demure are polite was my
salad fork on the left or is it the
purple hair spiked to the gods southern
women we slay with braids overflowing
our awful faces no we ain’t no Southern
Belles yes we came here to give them
hell yes we came to rebel so when I say
your name say your southern and say it
loud and proud here the women in Alabama
we’ll give him that Arkansas Texas and
Huntsville weather mountains think
hallelujah to the trees in Monroeville
where literary babies bathe and the
nurture of the air on the Southside and
breweries where women tell stories of
warfare and mutts gum rial Abama where
women Rock the Vote from their City to
your county seat dears grandma
Washington
we ain’t no Southern Belles we came here
to give them hell we came to rebel and
the church said and the church said
again so dear grandma Washington if our
names happen to be doubled like Barbra
Jean I’m Bobbie Jean with an eye on my
regime or if our names are unique and
beautiful like Kisha ki OSHA Shaniqua
Lucretia
or how about grandma Washington those
southern heroes Helen Keller Rosa Parks
Angela Davis Octavia Spencer
Zora Neale Hurston dearest grandmother
Washington our Southern roots help us
win the game we southern women run the
south with no shame full of pride
knowing we are named after goddesses
great aunts and madea’s who cooked hot
fried chicken on seasoned cast-iron
skillets grieved with life lessons
passed down from her mama and her mama
and her mama and her grandma singing
mmm dears grandma Washington prayers
from me from my mother’s womb are alive
today so grandma America /media had it
all wrong the fossa narrative of the
southern woman who cries and her
handkerchief is dispelled our southern
thighs and hips are weapons of mass
destruction causing car polyps on the
D is Grandma Washington ugly come on
what you could not have known is that my
skin has become my friend and it tells
my story your story our story story of a
southern woman as a warrior story
dearest grandma Washington watch as each
one of these women and men moved to the
edges of their seat and get ready to
tweet said Facebook and Instagram on
fire as I Spit the southern woman’s
desire the stage today is ablaze with
feminist CEOs agricultural workers first
shift second shift third shift and alike
single moms CEOs grand mothers daughters
sisters family and friends her.she you
me we built the south our
deoxyribonucleic acid got busy with the
war-torn soul of white Confederate
supremacists causing them to stop the
fight and die die die Black Muslim
African Asian Protestant Southern
Baptists African Methodist Episcopal
gave trans by queer straight perfectly
fact perfectly thin chubby cheeks pale
arms strong arms kinky hair brown skin
and big thighs
so grandma Washington before you put me
in that box and sent me back down that
river to meet my make of the water
remember who taught you how to swim who
taught you how to love who taught you
how to pray it was a badass Southern
woman who taught you how to make that
potato salad with mustard a mayonnaise
and yes grandma Washington you told me
that in the south this south we eat
sweet potatoes not your mom’s and
grandma you told me never to let anyone
touch my hair your roots nourished my
roots and to the beauty that it is today
so whether she ditches a tent and the
Talladega forest or if she lives down a
dirt road and a double-wide trailer in
the black belt or if she gets her dreams
weaved over the nice guy on Orange Beach
or if she sees woman noodles – all one
two three four five of her Brown babies
or if she takes her sushi vegan she
ain’t no southern belle she came here to
give him him she came to avail so I
forgive you grandma Washington and I
appreciate you and I honor and I applaud
every southern woman whether transplant
are not in this room today even if your
you never have to buy another pair of
from my lips to Grandma Washington’s is
we ate no Southern Belles we came here
to give them hell
we came to rebel and the church said I
love you grandma thank you [Applause]
grandma Washington said so born dark
much too dark grandma and Washington
born and bred and the South half white
big woman when she walked in the room
you knew she was in the room log native
black hair smooth all of olay skin and
soft hands that never had to supper
button on any man’s shirt
grandma Washington believed and being
well fed and feeding on Sunday she made
hot molasses tea and tea cakes with real
cane sugar
grandma Washington judged black folk and
white folk and poor folk and rich folk
and skinny folk and fat folk and just
about every kind of folk to her looks
were everything and you dare not
embarrass grandma Washington for if you
did she would send you back down the
river back down the cold steel waters
where you came from
you’re much too dark much too different
to be part of her southern history dears
grandma Washington Southern women are no
Southern Belles we are rebels whose
stories transcend the southern stereo
type of the black mani or the dutiful
wife standing by her man
or the daughter who says yes man when
she means no and please know this we
don’t all marry our cousins or have sex
at 14 willingly our climb trees with
skirts on Southern women are no Southern
Belles yes we are rebels our storyline
transcends us standing barefoot in the
kitchen cooking cornbread for supper
marching and protesting and knocking
down the doors of mediocracy a southern
woman’s power comes from her power to
reveal her power to raise hell the
stereotype of the southern woman as some
dignified matriarch that is a submissive
fool to the world just ain’t at all true
y’all and yes we say y’all and what’s it
to you I ain’t no southern belle I came
here to give them hell
I came to rebell and the church said and
the church said again ignoring sweet
daily southern rituals with me removing
the need to be demure are polite was my
salad fork on the left or is it the
purple hair spiked to the gods southern
women we slay with braids overflowing
our awful faces no we ain’t no Southern
Belles yes we came here to give them
hell yes we came to rebel so when I say
your name say your southern and say it
loud and proud here the women in Alabama
we’ll give him that Arkansas Texas and
Huntsville weather mountains think
hallelujah to the trees in Monroeville
where literary babies bathe and the
nurture of the air on the Southside and
breweries where women tell stories of
warfare and mutts gum rial Abama where
women Rock the Vote from their City to
your county seat dears grandma
Washington
we ain’t no Southern Belles we came here
to give them hell we came to rebel and
the church said and the church said
again so dear grandma Washington if our
names happen to be doubled like Barbra
Jean I’m Bobbie Jean with an eye on my
regime or if our names are unique and
beautiful like Kisha ki OSHA Shaniqua
Lucretia
or how about grandma Washington those
southern heroes Helen Keller Rosa Parks
Angela Davis Octavia Spencer
Zora Neale Hurston dearest grandmother
Washington our Southern roots help us
win the game we southern women run the
south with no shame full of pride
knowing we are named after goddesses
great aunts and madea’s who cooked hot
fried chicken on seasoned cast-iron
skillets grieved with life lessons
passed down from her mama and her mama
and her mama and her grandma singing
mmm dears grandma Washington prayers
from me from my mother’s womb are alive
today so grandma America /media had it
all wrong the fossa narrative of the
southern woman who cries and her
handkerchief is dispelled our southern
thighs and hips are weapons of mass
destruction causing car polyps on the
D is Grandma Washington ugly come on
what you could not have known is that my
skin has become my friend and it tells
my story your story our story story of a
southern woman as a warrior story
dearest grandma Washington watch as each
one of these women and men moved to the
edges of their seat and get ready to
tweet said Facebook and Instagram on
fire as I Spit the southern woman’s
desire the stage today is ablaze with
feminist CEOs agricultural workers first
shift second shift third shift and alike
single moms CEOs grand mothers daughters
sisters family and friends her.she you
me we built the south our
deoxyribonucleic acid got busy with the
war-torn soul of white Confederate
supremacists causing them to stop the
fight and die die die Black Muslim
African Asian Protestant Southern
Baptists African Methodist Episcopal
gave trans by queer straight perfectly
fact perfectly thin chubby cheeks pale
arms strong arms kinky hair brown skin
and big thighs
so grandma Washington before you put me
in that box and sent me back down that
river to meet my make of the water
remember who taught you how to swim who
taught you how to love who taught you
how to pray it was a badass Southern
woman who taught you how to make that
potato salad with mustard a mayonnaise
and yes grandma Washington you told me
that in the south this south we eat
sweet potatoes not your mom’s and
grandma you told me never to let anyone
touch my hair your roots nourished my
roots and to the beauty that it is today
so whether she ditches a tent and the
Talladega forest or if she lives down a
dirt road and a double-wide trailer in
the black belt or if she gets her dreams
weaved over the nice guy on Orange Beach
or if she sees woman noodles – all one
two three four five of her Brown babies
or if she takes her sushi vegan she
ain’t no southern belle she came here to
give him him she came to avail so I
forgive you grandma Washington and I
appreciate you and I honor and I applaud
every southern woman whether transplant
are not in this room today even if your
you never have to buy another pair of
from my lips to Grandma Washington’s is
we ate no Southern Belles we came here
to give them hell
we came to rebel and the church said I
love you grandma thank you [Applause]
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