Tell me the Story of America

I don't mean the story of red, white, and blue

I mean the story of those with skin of a different hue

Taught to be ashamed

Because of their shade

Tell me their story

Tell me of the whips and chains

The looks of disdain

Tell me of "freedom"

Of how those chains were broken only to latch on new ones

These harder to see

Tell me why is it so hard to see

The need for the coexistence of

Differences and equality?

 

Tell me of those whose land was invaded

Tell me how home suddenly became battleground

Tell me of dread that filled

Hearts of those whose only wrong

Was standing in the way of the white man’s fantasy

 

Tell me of the woman

Forced to make friends with silence

Convinced that she was nothing more

Than a stepping stone to another’s success

Told she could be great

Just not greater than her brothers

Her husband

Her sons

 

Tell me of the modern day forefathers

Those who come to this land with dreams of freedom

Only to be told that this country cannot be bothered

With foreigners

Tell me how they broke themselves in two

To be told nothing they could do

Would make them welcome

Tell me how they never felt at home

How they always felt alone

In a land so full of people

 

Tell me of the determination

The refusal to settle

The unapologetic existence
Of those considered outcast

Tell me of broken stereotypes

Of rising above the odds

Of the oneness found among those

Who have become familiar with

The suffocation of assumptions

Tell me of the differences that make us beautiful

Tell me of fighters

Of groundbreakers

Tell me of the resilience that has broken boundaries

Tell me of boundaries yet to be broken

Tell me how we are not yet “America the Great”

But some day we just might be

Tell me the good

The bad

The ugly

Tell me the story of America