Three days ago I heard a rumor in my school,

that a girl was murdered because of gang violence,

her grade is unknown

well, I am the one who does not know

 

I should careless about her grade,

because she must be in heaven’s parade,

between agradable and disgrace,

we should look for justice in this place,

we should not climb our shame,

and look for the responsibles’ name,

because he is not who to blame,

but ourselves,

 

I mean…

 

How many days you wake up,

and see a single mother,

who had survived domestic violence,

who now works her ass off,

so her children can eat,

not like the rest,

but only chicken, rice and beans.

Her vision is to

see them grow strong and healthy...

And those children have the same privilege,

as me

to call that woman mamá,

 

How many days you see,

a young Latino,

who cannot speak English,

and he is intimidated

by the white men,

by the black men,

and of course by his own people,

which leave him without decision,

but to join a gang and defend himself

from the oppressors,

Those vivid memories are still

alive in me.

 

How many days you see the police,

behind your back,

even when it is said that is not true,

I have the racism’s stigma

follow me during

the night, day and afternoons

because my skin is brown,

and no one realizes

that criminalizing my ancestors traces,

the same way they do to my african-american brothers,

is offensive,

It’s like saying,

Evil exists in the white men

 

But remember that justice is defined by the oppressed

and those who had lived the injustices,

If you try to help youth of color,

just remember that

a system which the oppressor creates

would never work,

you should understand that restoration is not played by

our own oppressor,

If you want us to restore ourselves,

then we need someone to tell us the truth,

 

Because we are invisible without an identity,

the education system should teach people of color about their culture,

teach about lynching, slavery and,

civil right leaders that will never appear in our history books

because they were communists, gay or radicals

you should understand by now that education is not going to save us,

but our culture,

because that is part of each individual’s identity,

And if we do not know our history and culture,

then young afro-american and Latinos are going to end up,

selling drugs, gambling, into gang violence and prostitution,

because that is the only identity that the US had given us,

and lucky for those who are out of poverty

but now struggle to find an identity.

 

Che Guevara once said that,

“Revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe,

you have to make it fall.”

 

This time instead of revolution,

we should use Justice

because,

“Justice is not an apple that falls when it is ripe,

we have to make it fall.”