Dear America

Dear America, 

 

You kidnap me from my home and family in my motherland

You stuff me under your ships for months and set sail for a New World

You ruffle my feathers and force me into your fields

 You sell me as a slave for way less than my worth

 

You beat me, you rape me, you sell my children across the South

You have me raise your own yet still treat me like a caged animal

You forbid me to learn, to write, to read, to even speak my own language

But what have I done so wrong, oh America?

 

After centuries of enslavement you build your country on my back

You declare me free yet still bound me with your laws

Doesn’t old scripture say “whom is free is truly free indeed”?

Oh no, not you Ms. America- you bound me with your Jim Crow laws and your segregation, yet you still claim I’m your equal

 

After decades of your “freedom”, you forbid me what you promised the white man

When we fight for our freedom, you murder our men and burn our churches

Now four centuries later, Ms. America’s history repeats itself

 

You judge me by my skin color first, my intelligence last

You arrest our men for years, kill our sons in seconds

But how is the white killer still free?

“black on black crimes” is no justification to me

 

You gun down our males, blaspheme our black president

Does he not an obligation not only as an American man, but also a black man?

Why, Ms. America, is he “African-American”, but you not “European-American”?

 

You tell me to prove myself, get an education, graduate the top of my class

You tell me to raise my children, build a home, and be a stand-up citizen

Then why, oh America, am I still treated like a useless immigrant?

 

You refuse me your help-your financial aid and government assistance

Yet have the audacity to rebuke me after my tears and tolls have gone to your economy, taxes, and rigged system

You bound me to your new laws, your new ways, your new century

Is a [intelligent] black immigrant woman too taboo for you?

 

You counterfeit my culture, my style, my life, and sell it all as your own

But still turn up your nose when I depict my true self in those very same aspects 

Now you refuse me justice for my dead father, brother, son that you have gunned down

You refuse me the right to just be "American" with white picket fences, but only "African-American" with the barb wires of the ghetto

 

So tell me America, why do you hate me so?

After centuries of enslavement, and decades of a burdened soul

What have I done to deserve the end of your rope?

Are you trying to eliminate my kind, despite my proving that I’m better than your conscience shows?

Oh, America, just remember that we were once kings and queens in a land of gold. What do you fear so?

 

Remember, Ms. America, that I never asked to be here; YOU were the one that kidnapped me from my motherland three centuries ago.

 

Sincerely,

A young black immigrant