Life in America
Every single day without fail a voice would blare out the words to an anthem that we loyally repeated,
Right hand over our heart
Left hand behind our back
Said in unison like a well instructed orchestra
And once the last words were said
The spell was broken and the chatter commenced
Too young to understand the meaning of what you just said but not too young to not participate
At the end of the day, I would run home and speak in the language of my family
Not the one used to recite the words to the flag earlier that day
I would color inside the lines while waiting for my dad to come home from work
When evening would roll around and the back door opened I knew he was home
With his chafed hands, weather beaten face and dirt covered clothes he would great my sister, my brother, my mother and I
He would complain of another back ache or soreness of his arm like he did of the weather during dinner and then retire early for the night to wake up again early for the day
My mother would clear the table and once everything was washed would sit with a stack of papers
All of the kids name were sprawled on each paper in her handwriting
The same logo that appeared on the cards she showed the lady at the clinic appeared on these papers
Tomorrow she would have take the whole stack to the green office in town or have the cards taken away
The tv would blare the news of how the “bad” people would be returned to where they come from
While two gringos argued about how our people were destroying the country, how they were taking money and jobs
And then move on to talk about the what the weather had been like
Today there is not much difference except now I notice the flash of panic that crosses my father’s eyes when roundups are discussed
How my mother does her best to downplay it all
I notice the fear in my siblings voices when they tell me they are afraid of what could happen
We were born and raised in this country but sometimes it isn’t so welcoming
My answer to calm their fears isn’t much better because all I can tell them is all these talks has been going on for a long time
And I can only hope that these events remain on the screens and not in our streets.
Comments
Login or register to post a comment.