What happened, America?
When did you change
from a land of opportunity
and freedom of thought,
and a multicultural melting pot
with open arms…
into a land of fear,
mistrust,
abuse,
ignorance,
alienation,
blindness,
and hate?
When did you forget who you are?
Instead, we see a sickness growing within,
hidden behind veneers
of placating platitudes
and smoke and mirrors.
What happened to rights and equality?
Opportunity and liberty?
Even the notion of democracy has begun to falter…
What happened to your ideals?
What happened to your ideals?
When did it become acceptable
to take advantage of those desperate for a change
and deny them opportunity?
When did it become acceptable
to look upon someone who came to your open arms
and treat them differently?
When did it become acceptable
to strip one another’s freedoms
and impose our will upon fellow citizens?
We focus on the negative
making one another ashamed of,
and hostile towards
our differences…
Whether it is melanin content,
or spiritual beliefs,
or sexual preferences.
Is this the land of the free and the home of the brave?
For which countless sons and daughters
have shed their blood and sacrificed their lives?
Now, what I see is such a disparity
between who you were and who you are now,
that it saddens me…
for I am one of those sons who had sacrificed…
What happened, America?
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