In school we were taught

That America is Freedom

And justice is for all.

 

We learned the First Amendment

The founding fathers listed

Protected individualized religion

Separated  church and state

 

But as my teachers taught me about

Religious freedom and equality

I saw

Muslims treated as

Second class citizens

Not allowed to enter

Not allowed to escape

Life and death situations

Because of the religion

They choose to practice.

 

We learned that the 14th and 15th Amendments

Protected voter rights

Rights in general for

People of Color.

We learned that Women were to be regarded as

Equals

Under the 19th Amendment

 

Yet young black men are shot

For holding skittles

Wearing black hoods,

And women are harassed and called out for

“PMS”ing on our president's twitter.

 

We learned about Roe v Wade and how abortion

Is protected under the 14th Amendment

As a women’s right to chose

For all women

Well except

Those who live in Ohio

And several other states

And that according to the majority in senate

None should have that right

Because it’s against God’s will.

 

But whose God?

America’s God?

Because last time I checked

America wasn’t meant to have a God

But our president finished his

First speech as president with a

“God bless you”

And the inauguration calls for a

Hand on the bible

We are supposedly free from.

 

The America outlined in the constitution

Could be a great one.

 

But the issue isn’t

Making America great again

Because I don’t find slavery

And segregation

And racism

And xenophobia

And sexism

And child labor

And two world wars

That great.

The issue is trying to make

America great for the first time

In the way it was meant to be

In the way it was written.