Dear America: We March

Dear America, we march for a new America 

The America that was never one but one day shall be 

Refurbished from the dreams of Dr. MLK, the dignity of Sojourner Truth, the sacrifices of Peter Wang a JROTC cadet who died in the act of helping his classmates escape the gunman in Parkland, Florida

Yet instead, our march slips through the cracks 

the cracks of the same sidewalks we march, we ask, we chant what will it take for you to see 

that ENOUGH is ENOUGH is ENOUGH

It may sound hyperbolic but it’s true   

oh the land of the free as we sing “whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight”

Let me rephrase that, oh the land of disenfranchisement 

after 15 years of our celebration for the right to bear arms

but in all other conversations about civil rights, our government chooses to curve ball 

So who do you stand for

Because you sure don't stand for the dreamers who wanted to dream you 

For seekers who wanted to seek you

we strive to see eye to eye but your eyes drift away from the right to my safety

my virtue is apparently not deserving of an ally

my protests are interpreted as public disturbance 

while the death of my leaders are depicted as public service 

but still, you are shocked because we persist 

we persist because we believe thought such demners  

There will be a moment of uproar 

Where we finally release the clutch in our muscles 

The fear from our blood 

With hopes that maybe one day our words will speak louder then the brutal actions afflicted upon us 

you tell us guns protect us from hate but who do you speak of because it hasn't protected my community, my classmates, or Cortlen Harrington, Hadiya Pendleton, Tiyona Thomson 

who died through your means of protection 

who suffered from your choices

and yet were left unacknowledged by national newspapers

please don't act as though arming teachers provides real homage to the fallen

do not trivialize our right to safety, our right to live in a space in which our virtue isn't handled inhumanly 

No space is ours but it is only a matter of time 

because ENOUGH is ENOUGH is ENOUGH 

Dear America, my generation has arrived to shift the tides