I spoke to a woman about America

The greatest country on earth

(Or so I'd always been told).

She told me of the other side,

The story of the foreigners,

The immigrants

(People like her).

She came to America to be a teacher,

to become an American

(So she wouldn't have to be Jamaican).

She had the degrees, she had the experience

(But they were both Jamaican).

The schools said, sorry, you don't meet the requirements.

Come back with an American degree.

She couldn't find a job.

Her Jamaican education wouldn't help her here.

She ended up at a grocery store.

She applied to be a manager.

And they hired her.

(But for night stocking instead).

How perfect for the store.

(She could be invisible.)

The customers wouldn't have to see her black skin.

Wouldn't have to listen to her Jamaican accent.

Wouldn't have to be shocked at her hair

Cropped close to her scalp

(Much too short for a woman).

She was so tired

So ashamed

That she considered taking her own life.

 

No, America was not kind to her.

(It almost killed her).