Allegiance

Hands over hearts, morning after morning

Some don’t bother speaking anymore

Their silence is louder than the words that flit around the classroom

Why pledge Allegiance to a country that has wronged so many?

Healthcare, education, women’s rights

These are our battlefields

I walk through halls, surrounded by other soldiers

Waging war on an unfair system

We fight for ourselves, our mothers, fathers, friends, strangers

We fight for humanity

We fight the battles of our grandfathers

Racial injustice, police brutality, more massacres than there are days in the year

Yelling above the crowd

“Aren’t you a little young for this?”

Too young to realize my rights are being taken?

Or too young to do anything about it?

Neither.

I can fight and therefore, I will.