I Am Already Here.

I am an American citizen 

Born and raised a southwestern Virginian 

A member of the USA's dominion 

Yet people are still of the opinion

That I should go back to my country.

 

This is my country 

This is my land

And yet I stand

Apart

 

You and I are the same

And Maybe my skin is to blame

Or perhaps my name 

But You still see me as other.

Not family, not mother or sister or brother

Not one member of our great nation 

But some alien space station 

somehow inhabiting the same space 

And I can't place

This feeling of guilt that fills me.

It kills me,

You are at fault not I and yet I feel unworthy

 

Like I must prove my Americanness 

Be twice as patriotic

Thrice as filled with love for my country, my people 

Just to feel equal

 

Some can get angry- fight 

and not think twice, but I'm on thin ice

Careful in my words

Haven’t you heard

I'm not from here

I'm not like you

So I push my differences down and project my inner patriot

swallow my thirst and it works

For a while it works 

 

But 

 

I am the child of immigrants 

In this country built by immigrants

why should I adjust and assimilate 

State anything but proudly 

that

I can love my heritage and also love my country

 

My duality is inclusive

Not either but both

I am the most of, the best of, my country

My heritage

My heart and my home

Not I alone 

But millions 

Of immigrants 

and immigrants children

Who have found homes in this country’s houses

 

So when I hear the grouses of

go back to your country 

Cries Rooted in fear

I urge criers to see

I am already here

 

 

July 4th 2017

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This poem is about: 
Me
My community
My country
Poetry Terms Demonstrated: 

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