Color Enforcement

[dukealien]

Getting the empathy is part of it.
But if it’s a sincere poem (ie not one where the poet is trying to manipulate the reader a la Patricia Highsmith), then the premise also has to resonate.

If this church or whatever sees Boers as unfit for qualifying for refugee status then they’re on solid ground. The bar for claiming asylum is high.

Malaysia has affirmative action policies biased towards ethnic Malays at the expense its Chinese and Indian minorities

The problems that afflict Boers also affect other non black minorities in the country

But they are nowhere near bad enough to claim refugee status. For the most part, these groups are relatively wealthy, and where not wealthy, still quite comfortably off.

So why the special treatment for the Boers? Because the myth of white genocide  in South Africa has been circulating in right wing circles since 1994. And Trump is merely pandering to his base again. Opposing a racist policy doesn’t make you racist.

So you can write a poem from the pov of a Boer, but you’ll need to have a believable point

Thanks for that advice.  Discarding the objection that "Boers" aren't badly-enough off to qualify as victims (again), I had some ideas on how to express this using some of the critique material.  In a way.  Sort of.  It will be a considerably different poem, so it will need a new thread.  Some will still find it objectionable, but will need to find different rationalizations reasons for their dislike.

Update:  the new poem is here.