Red, White, Blue.

What does that mean to a girl like me,

a girl of minority?

Where the color of my skin,

(Now these are words of a friend)

Is more important than the decency in my eyes.

 

You call me a terrorist,

I call you a racist.

You think it’s hard being me?

Try being me in a culture that will never respect

who I am, and who I will be.

Red, White, Blue.

I embrace that flag every day

Only to keep my family at bay..

They think I’ve betrayed my kind

Because I’ve conformed to your western mind.

You hate me because I’m Pakistani?

Well they hate me because I’m American!

So which one can I be accepted by?

Red, White, Blue.

Blue as the bruises on my body

from a father that claims he’s holy.

White as the scars carved from a mother

Who’d rather my sister had a brother.

Red as the stains in the living room carpet:

We can’t choose who we’re born to,

We’re just told to be thankful.

Told to love it.

But I don’t love this gun to my head,

And this is no metaphor,

he wants me dead.

Just because I have a dream to be an artist,

Not a doctor and not a scientist.

But I’m an American, Dammit!

I have the freedom to choose what my life will be.

You think I care that I’m some patronized nationality?

Maybe my head is in the clouds,

But at least it’s not up my ass!

Hey mom, check the forecast,

You’ve brought hail to my shining day,

Where I had hope, you brought the wind and the rain.

But that’s okay, you can’t blow me away,

I’m still pushing through your wall of grey.

You see, unlike you, I know my rights,
I know to fight

through everything you’ve put me through

it’s only made me stronger,

Red, White, Blue.

Those are no longer colors of a distant life,

Those are colors of my soul and my fight,

they can’t take that away, they can’t dull my shine,

Because I’m a Pakistani with American pride.