Do You Not See?

 

It was 1865,

And the end of slavery was announced,

Yet we were never free,

Tied down by words and promises.

It was 1868,

And the enslaved became citizens

On a piece of paper,

Sealed with the white man’s signature in ink.

It was 1920

And women won their suffrage,

Still, our voices remained unheard.

It was 1965,

And immigrants received the right to vote

If we passed the registration test,

Written only in English.

It is 2012

And people of color are still “foreigners”.

The discrimination continues

Burned into our minds and skin,

Our ancestry and future.

Open your eyes! Do you not see?

Freedom is not as close as you may think.

                                                                     

It was 1976,

Buckley versus Valeo,

And money became freedom of speech.

The laborers stripped naked;

Rights compromised for profit.

CEO’s, aware of their voracity,

Did not care,

As long as their banks overflowed

With money and greed.

It was 2010,

And the Arizona Immigration Law passed.

Immigrants do not belong here,

Illegal alien or not,

This is America! White America!

Why should we be accepted?

White, Black, Yellow, and Brown;

Our skin colors still define us.

It was 2012,

And innocent people were shot while watching a movie,

Sikhs were murdered while at a gurdwara,

The accused man: white and mentally ill

He needs help!

Were he a man of color,  

Death would be the only justice.

Open your eyes! Do you not see?

Freedom is not as close as you may think.

 

It is 2012,

And the bullets and words that once broke us,

Continue to shape us.

The chains that suffocated our dignity,

Will continue to do so

As long as I am not equal to you,

And you to me.

Sympathize with the people of color, the workers,

The immigrants, the homosexuals, the uneducated,

The women and the poor.

The pity pushes us down.

 “… We still have a long, long way to go

before we reach the promised land of freedom”.

Open your eyes! Do you not see?

Freedom will never be as close as you may think.  

 

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