The land of the free,
The land of the brave?
Yet the savage sun sets on this horizon,
Race, gender, and ethnicity in a blaze,
The Feminine Mystique to Malcolm X,
Traversing the obstacles of injustice and slashing through the prejudice,
The howl that demands equality,
The plight of Chavez and the durability of W.E.B. Du Bois,
The fight to the death as the flames lick at their calves and thighs,
My name is Dolores Huerta Bernard Lafayetta Richard Aoki,
Like a planarian, slashed only to regenerate the strength,
To make you see the panoptic view of our world,
The Statue of Liberty received the tired, the poor, those yearning to breathe free,
Some do not use their tongue in fear of ramification,
And she, the great idol, rejects them faster than oil repels water,
And the foundation of the skyscraper is laid down by the indignation of the hurt,
Of the oppressed, of the backbone of this country,
Frances Willard gave me jurisdiction to defend our rights,
That skyscraper, amassed by the people’s blood-boiling cries,
Threatens to crumple, disintegrate faster than the Twin Towers,
And the integral of the commotion bring about a change,
The pillars and commandments and preaches coincide,
Allowing the frigid air to cool the shards and pieces of humanity.