America

America

Land of the free

And home of the brave.

But it wasn’t always that way.

Land of the oppressed,

And home of the silent.

Slaves

Minority

Women.

Equal rights for all,

Yet equal rights for none.

In 1492,

Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

To plant the seed for our nation

And become a symbol of hope for America to be.

But it came at a price

For our neighbors the Native Americans.

Destruction

Oppression

Slavery.

Forced into submission by the white Anglo-Saxons

And made almost into extinction.

For our selfish gain of power.

By the time Catherine Maria Sedgwick

Put paper to pen to write ‘Hope Leslie,’

Our nation’s first people

Were almost no more.

Silent.

And we justify our actions

With tales of our white superiority

And advanced technology

And lay the foundations for discrimination

That would leave a lasting impact on our country

And fills our nation’s people with such violent hate.

Fear of the unknown.

Fear of the different.

Fear of the things we don’t understand.

So we treat them with utter contempt

With disgrace

With animal like cruelty.

And they are afraid to be who they are.

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

Afraid to be who he was

And lose it all.

Afraid of what would happen

If he accepted his minority

And became a part of the oppressed mass.

So he stayed

Silent.

Equal rights for all

Yet equal rights for none.

But there’s one group

That still struggles for equality

Still struggles against stereotypes

That has not yet been mentioned.

Women.

Staying at home to do the cooking and cleaning

Women.

Taking care of the children instead of working

Women.

Standing behind their man in quiet submission

Silent.

For centuries, women struggled against their societal norms

And their social boundaries.

And tried to fight back

But john Adams did not remember the ladies

When he drafted the future of our nation.

Equal rights for all

Yet equal rights for none.

Women held to a higher standard than men.

Don’t speak out too much.

Don’t be too smart.

Don’t ask questions

Don’t step out of line.

A brave and courageous woman in our literature

Disobeyed and defied societal rules.

Hester Pryne.

The hussie.

The outcast.

The skank.

Ostracized for having an illegitimate child

And forced to wear a scarlet letter

But when asked who the father was

Silent.

When put to shame and judged for her actions

Silent.

Don’t speak too much

Don’t step out of line.

Punished for something that most of this

Nation’s founding fathers have done many a time.

America

What has happened to you?

America

Wake up and look around.

America

Everywhere you look, oppression is happening

Everyday we wait, it only gets worse

Everyone is affected by racism and hate

America

Stop the injustice

Stop the hatred

Stop!

Don’t raise your fist to those around you anymore

Don’t fear the unknown, the different

Don’t remain silent

Stand up

And make America

The land of the free

And the home of the brave

Once more.