America, the salvation, the cure, the only country that gives out hope like food store samples

Land of the free home of the brave

America, a country known for its 24 amendments a freedom of speech, religion, it’s pursuit of happiness

America the country of endless opportunities

Where war has yet to taint its beauty where we are made equal

 

But Read The Fine Print

ONLY IF you fall under these requirements:

Light Skin, 2 Parents, a brother, a sister, perhaps even a family pet, colored eyes, NO native tongue; A PURE American family will you enjoy your stay

 

See my America is not this

In America i’m seen less than my white skin neighbor

My brown colored skin is despised

Although I try to scrub off my differences at the end of the day

My native tongue is encaged with barbed wire by the people around me who don’t understand

 

America you constantly colonize our cultures never truly understanding the meaning behind our language, our love, our people

My fellow people of color have suffered this injustice since the beginning of time

When slavery was as normal as the wind howling in the night

When imported goods weren’t just fruit but people

When ICE tortured and murdered my people wanting a better life

 

Excuse me that I don’t believe in your Pledge of Allegiance

Your broken promises are as damage and hopeless as our president being empty as gun barrels while white policemen shoot down vulnerable African-Americans

America to you we, the people of color, are your statistic

Something to study as you put us under your microscope

In your eyes we mean nothing more to you than the leaves on the ground during fall

Easily blown out of the way, crushed by your lack of acknowledgment

You praise the white male for selling dope to provide for his family but you lock up the black male for the same thing

 

America we are you’re 1950s bastard child that you put for adoption
to erase your mistake

As if adoption can ever mend the pain you caused
When you imported people like they were property on ships without sanitary
When you embedded your signature on their flesh while they familiarized themselves with lands they didn’t know

When you started using my people as target practice

Ripping me out of my abuelo’s grip as you cuffed him at El Este calling him a “mojado”

Leaving your red and purple hand marks on my arm telling me to say goodbye
Before his struggled voice said “Green Card”

You decided long ago you didn’t want us
You decided long ago you wanted us gone
Before we were able to take a breath, before we had knowledge of our existence
But you need us
Yet you refuse to really acknowledge us

 

 

 

 

 

*note: for the scholarship of The Hate U Give referred by friend