Da same da same by Sipho Sepamla
I doesn't care of you black
I doesn't care of you white
I doesn't care of you India
I doesn't care of you clearlink
if sometimes you Saus Afrika
you gotta big terrible, terrible
somewheres in yourselves
I mean for sure now
all da peoples is make like God
an' da God I knows for sure
He make avarybudy wit' one heart
for sure now dis heart go-go da same
dats for meaning to say
one man no diflent to anader
so now
you see a big terrible terrible stand here
how one man make anader man feel
da pain he doesn't feel hisself
for sure no dats da whole point
sometime you wanna know how I meaning for
is simple
when da nail of say da t'orn tree
scratch little bit little bit of da skin
I doesn't care of you black
I doesn't care of you white
I doesn't care of you India
I doesn't care of you clearlink
I mean for sure da skin
only one t'ing come for sure
an' da one t'ing for sure is red blood
dats for sure da same, da same for avarybudy
so for sure now
you doesn't look anader man in de eye
THE POET
Sipho Sepamla is a South African, spent most of his life in Soweto.
He wrote during Apartheid and had some of his work banned by the Apartheid regime.
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
- Explores how all humans are essentially the same, despite ethnic and cultural background
- Social injustices
- Wealth vs poverty
- Global perspective
- Emphasizes his protest against dehumanizing effect of this classification system
- emphasizes the sameness of humans in the face of policies that claim to enforce differences.
pleading + mildly threatening tone | body of the poem is mostly repetitions on the theme of
sameness | closing repetition is a reminder that we all bleed the same |final line tells white South
Africans that they should be ashamed to look in the eyes of black South Africans until they correct
these wrongs
I doesn't care of you black
I doesn't care of you white
I doesn't care of you India
I doesn't care of you clearlink
if sometimes you Saus Afrika
you gotta big terrible, terrible
somewheres in yourselves
I mean for sure now
all da peoples is make like God
an' da God I knows for sure
He make avarybudy wit' one heart
for sure now dis heart go-go da same
dats for meaning to say
one man no diflent to anader
so now
you see a big terrible terrible stand here
how one man make anader man feel
da pain he doesn't feel hisself
for sure no dats da whole point
sometime you wanna know how I meaning for
is simple
when da nail of say da t'orn tree
scratch little bit little bit of da skin
I doesn't care of you black
I doesn't care of you white
I doesn't care of you India
I doesn't care of you clearlink
I mean for sure da skin
only one t'ing come for sure
an' da one t'ing for sure is red blood
dats for sure da same, da same for avarybudy
so for sure now
you doesn't look anader man in de eye
THE POET
Sipho Sepamla is a South African, spent most of his life in Soweto.
He wrote during Apartheid and had some of his work banned by the Apartheid regime.
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
- Explores how all humans are essentially the same, despite ethnic and cultural background
- Social injustices
- Wealth vs poverty
- Global perspective
- Emphasizes his protest against dehumanizing effect of this classification system
- emphasizes the sameness of humans in the face of policies that claim to enforce differences.
pleading + mildly threatening tone | body of the poem is mostly repetitions on the theme of
sameness | closing repetition is a reminder that we all bleed the same |final line tells white South
Africans that they should be ashamed to look in the eyes of black South Africans until they correct
these wrongs
