“America, America! God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood”

From the mouths of babes these words are uttered

But how can they possibly be true?

The roots of this country can be defined from the sweat and toil of others

From those who are then quickly erased from our textbooks

 

The pursuit of Liberty, Equality, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Sacred words written down into the fabric of America

Liberty

Equality

Happiness

These words were intended for those who fit a certain image

For a person who is the poster boy for America

I do not fit this image

 

The loving housewives, the dutiful daughters,

the day laborers, the people of different skin tones, the mentally ill;

All shut away from the flashy cameras of our Country

Covering up the ugly parts they wish to hide

Our everlasting torch attracts others to our light

But our light often reflects the shadows we wish to cover up

 

“O beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern impassioned stress,

A thoroughfare of freedom beat”

Freedom? Freedom for whom exactly?

Clearly only those who look like the Founding Fathers deserve said freedom

 

America, America, the country that I call home

Turning back those who wish to make it their home.

And how can we not offer brotherly love to our countrymen?

Too often we leave our soldiers out in the ruins after the storm

The uniforms meant to protect us instead kill us in the streets and get away with it

Politicians turn the other cheek,  thus letting the cracks in our nation divide us

the cries for help barely audible to people who pass by

 

My eyes gaze from sea to shining sea seeing every part of America

I am told I can not rise above myself due to my sex

I am told that I deserve to be electrocuted for my sexuality

I am told all I am meant to be is a mother

girls should be nanneys, not doctors

mothers, not breadwinners

teachers, not professors

 

But I crash through those barriers and I dare;

I dare to disturb the universe.

Hopefully I will stand proudly to know one day

this rectangle of stars and stripes will be:

one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all