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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