When I was a child, I thought there was one of you, America.
Around 5th grade, I got a label and extra school work which
included a book list.
I read Roots before I was
thirteen and I learned there were two of you.
When I was a teenager, I wanted to go to a dance with a boy
That had a different color skin. I was told my dress would be ripped in
two.
Two Americas.
When I was in college, I had friends from around the world.
They understood me when my hometown did not and I became even more passionate
That we all are created equally.
When I arrived to work, I had colleagues all over the globe.
We analyzed DNA and we knew that we are all more than 99% the same.
The rest gets grace.
When I was a woman, I walked a long road.
I fell in love with a man who said he was from America but it was not
my America.
And I was reminded that there are two.
Americas.
When I traveled South, a woman from the South of the North,
To the man from the North of the South, we both had lessons to learn
But there was always love.
When I came back to the North with a new President
I have watched my home country and families grow more divided.
Oh my heart, two Americas.
And I’m sad to think that we are going backwards in time and
space
To where it’s okay to say a word that we could not say at home, ever.
“Hate” has no place in a heart.
So I spend hours trying to find words and I will fall short.
But I cannot be silent.
And I will not sit.
