The so called, “American Dream”

Is the ideology that everyone should live content and in peace

With the friendly neighborhood barbecues

And sewing flags out of fleece.

 

It's the idea that a white picket fence house is a necessity,

Dinner should be ready by 5,

And the nights be spent in ecstacy.

 

It's soft pink and flowers,

For the ever important girl power,

And it's navy blue and train toys,

Being told not to cry - but still “boys will be boys"

 

It's going to Disneyland once a year

Traveling cross country without a fear,

Still affording a seat at a monthly baseball game

And the other wasted dollars dumped down the drain.

 

Please don't think I'm describing your aesthetic,

If anything, it's all just pathetic.

You might think I'm wrong,

But don't let yourself stay blinded for too long.

 

And so if we don't fit this mold,

Branded to us by the Constitution and our pride in the Declaration,

We take a knee,

And we don't get to assume our rights to life and liberty.

 

Or the pursuit of happiness,

Which blinds us into finding,

A never ending search for success.

We never get enough because there's always more to be needed.

So the desperate pleads and planted seeds will never be heeded.

 

But pennies turn into quarters,

And quarters to dollars,

And dollars to thousands,

So the new penny is now the million bucks that we envied before.

 

This somehow leads to the notion,

That owning Puerto Rico is more important than helping them to survive,

Or giving them any recognition except on Saturday Night Live.

 

This is more than just a punchline,

Regardless of your insta feed this isn't just fine.

It's worth so much more than we could ever imagine.

So, celebrities shouldn't be the only ones making things happen.

 

Terrorism never seems to escape us,

This means that the time is now to become gracious and courageous.

So whatever it is that you think is at its worst,

Just know that the world is only beginning to burst.

 

Teens seem to know more about what matters than the adults,

But all the oldies ever care about are their test results.

While their schools get shot up,

The NRA pays the desperate kindly for their coverups.

 

The American Dream only qualifies if you're American,

But the only true (Native) Americans here have had their lands taken for fracking.

So the wealthy can continue hacking.

 

But how can I say that?

If I'm not straight,

Of age to vote,

Male,

Or with completely European blood?

 

Somehow our President thinks that my being bilingual is a crime,

And if he could, he'd “send me back”

Just so he could pinch another dime.

 

It isn't fair to the majority,

But this majority always seems to be deemed the minority.

The rules of the game rip from under the seams,

To laugh in our face as we fight for the so called, “American Dream’.