13 years old I arrived in the land of the free

streets paved of gold, doors full of opportunities

One mother , three children, Domestic violence refugees

Sought out for stability but fell in the pit of poverty

I remember the countless moving and sleeping in parks

I remember the struggle of not knowing the language at school

I remember the void there was in the absence of my mother as she killed herself over minimum wage

A business account in Mexico but in the United States a maid

I vowed to better myself in her name

" you think you're too good with all those big words you use"  

" you're too white to be Mexican"

is what others would criticize

" stop talking like you're white" my friends would advise me ignorantly

but since when was being white associated with speaking properly?

Are minorities taught to think of themselves as inferior?

Have we not noticed we are called 'MINORITIES" for a reason?

The first day I met my academic mentor she looked right past me and asked

"Where's my mentee?"

My appearance was not what she expected, so she underestimated me

She failed to see my struggle,success, ambition and responsibility

She failed to see me for me and all my attributes

All she could see was my income, the stereotypes and my ethnicity

All she could see was the word "dirty"

A common term to degrade my people by the prejudice eyes who do not see clearly

Those who think we are not good enough for a colleges or universities

Unless it's to build them, clean them or maintain their grass and trees

We are just minorities , I am just a minority

not a person with human value or dignity

is what I was taught by society

I speak on behalf of  ALL ethnicities who have faced being disgraced by this adversity of racism

there are many ethnicities with different origins , cultures , beliefs, language and history

but one race, the human race

We are not minorities We are people

I am not a minority I am a person

We are not our ethnic background we are human

I would change the world by guiding individuals to see the truth

by closing our eyes to truly listen instead of judge

When we would listen we would hear the truth, not see what is manipulated as the truth

13 years later , in the land of the free

I found the darkness of poverty and racism and found that they gave me the gift of empathy

I found my value comes from inside of me

All people contain value and were made equally, just differently

And that is the truth

I plan to change the world by spreading this philosophy.

It is who I am and that makes me who i am flawlessly

because I am great at being human and having empathy

not just a minority

but as one who embraced and conquered growing up in a society where everyone underestimated me

I was born to fail but never let that define me

Throw stones at me and I will build myself a building where I will run my own company

I gave myself value and a reason to strive

I will guide others to do the same

because I am flawlessly human full of dignity

That will always be me

FEARLESS.FOCUSED.FLAWLESS

boundless, others will not stop me.