April Is National Poetry Month!
AMERICA
Attribution: CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE
ZELLIE RAINY ORR
FORMER FREEDOM SCHOOL STUDENT
I
have believed in America
though
she has never believed in me;
she
enslaved my ancestors
in
her Land of Liberty.
She
used me in building America
but
refused to give me pay;
even
manipulated justice
to
look the other way.
She
gave me an education
second-rate
at that;
and
blames me for illiteracy,
poverty,
and rats.
She
threw me in her crowded jails
even
beat me unmercifully;
when
I stood up for my civil rights
and
protested peacefully.
She
brainwashed my mind—
destroyed
my self-esteem;
denied
me my God-given right
to
be the best, I can be.
I
see her flag of freedom
flying
majestically for all to see;
but
I know her stars and stripes
do
not wave to me.
Read more about Civil Rights History and Poems @ CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ARCHIVE
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