Dear Hospitality

by Raeghn Draper

I am grateful to be in a pandemic. 
Can I say that? 
Is that ok for me to say? 

If I had to work 
With you
Hospitality
at this moment; 

I’d have to choose 
Which face to wear. 
And 
How many conversations I wanted there to be about my hair.
And 
Act like everything is perfect in the land of food and drinks.
And 
Serve the whites who pay my bills. 

The people who 
treat me as 
less than. 
Even though 
I can
Juggle more than twenty of them at a time. 
Even though 
I can
Manage their expectations. 
and 
The chefs.
and 
The bosses.
and 
Coworkers who ask what my opinion is on the freshest murder by a pig.

But they don’t call it that. 

It is a legal, 
Judicial, 
Lawful,
Protected 
Killing 
of just another Black body. 
Those are disposable.
Just look at our prisons. 

I am disposable. 

To you, 
Hospitality 

Even though I can 
carry four plates at a time. 
while 
Making you feel like you’re the only girl in the world. 
while 
Splitting a ticket seven ways 
while
Two of those by thirds. 

You, 
Hospitality, 
Let me know that my life is 
as worthless as
the people who picked 
the seasonal strawberries. 
You asked me to highlight on today’s plate. 

Who are those people? 
We are people. 

I am gleeful. 
You have to scramble 
To find. 
minions for your establishments. 
It’s only because we don’t want to work. 
I don’t want to work,
For you,  
Hospitality 

I don’t want to pretend to care, 
about people who can’t tell my light-skinned ass 
apart from the one other darker-skinned Black girl. 
And my co-workers wonder why
I get angry. 
Why
Am I always angry? 

I guess
I just thought
You, 
Hospitality, 
Would be kind to me. 

Do you remember when my brother died? 

It was a Saturday, 
I got the call at one, 
maybe it was two,
in the afternoon. 
My dad’s voice was drowned
By my screams. 
During a pause, 
we found a moment to alert the bosses. 

“You really should have let me know sooner.”

Well, I’m letting you know 
Hospitality 
you have broken my heart. 

They always say.
The industry has such thin margins. 

The industry is profitable 
because 
There is. 
an entire class of 
Workers who are exploitable.
You know who 
We are. 

You make
Money.
Because you 
Make it impossible.
For us to thrive. 

Is this why you can’t say
Black Lives Matter? 

Is this why
You don’t mean it.
When you do say
Black Lives Matter?