"I used to wonder how I would defeat the Snake of Oppression

Until I realized I had to become the Eagle of Justice"

That is a quote by Gandhi

No not as in Mahatma but as in Mendoza

Gandhi as in me

That is a quote about tyranny

That is a quote that applies to this very country

A country that says that we don't have money for feeding the poor

That we don't have money for welfare or healthcare

But we sure have money for warfare

Just take a look at Syria...with all those drone bombings

Bombs dropped by an American

Bombs that don't just kill men

Bombs that kill children!

They want me to stand for this nation with pride

This nation that has constantly lied

This nation built upon slavery and genocide

This nation full of government corruption giving corporate tax deductions

But no...I won't feel pride in enforced segregation

I won't feel pride in false liberation

Talking about "land of the free, home of the brave" 

More like "land of broken treaty, home of the slave"

 

Now some of you may be wondering why I'm so affected personally

And I suppose it's because I know my history

I suppose it's because a big part of my identity  is the fact that I have native ancestry

That I'm unable to trace due to genocidal policy

And that gets to me

Not knowing my ancestor's tribe...it creates a void in me that I'm unable to describe

See, I'm the result of Spaniards who thought they were justified to oppress my native ancestors

Because of them, they died

I am the product of rape and genocide

The product of forced assimilation and racial discrimination

The product who's had the realization

That my people have been victims of religious indoctrination, societal stratification, not to mention cultural appropriation

We've been reduced to mascots and costumes

We've become history skipped in the classrooms

 

So when I look at the color of my skin, it is a reminder that my simple existence is an act of resistance

So I hope that you can hear the pain in my voice

It comes from the pain that wasn't my choice

The pain of the ancestors I'll never get to know

The pain that has lasted hundreds of years

You can see it in our tears

You can hear it in our cries

The pain that was created from their several lies

The pain that comes from Oppression's Depression

The pain that comes from the People's Suppression

And I'll tell you a confession

Doing what I can to create progression is going to be obsession

Because the will to resist is in my roots

The will to defy corrupt men in suits

The will to show that we're not some simple savage brutes

 

So go ahead...call me a "radical revolutionary"

I'll take on that name with pride

Because while I fight injustice, you take the enemies' side

 

And so I leave off with this:

Love is love

Black lives matter

Women's rights are human rights

Free Palestine

Water is life

No human being is illegal

And when injustice becomes law...resistance becomes duty