Oportunidad

– by Guadalupe Lujan
Students from Manual High School in Denver visited KGNU recently to record some of their poetry. In their 10th grade American Literature class, the students have been writing, discussing, and reading about “The American Dream”. They’ve been inspired to write their own poetry on this theme. KGNU will be featuring these poems throughout January.

We are the future.
My brothers, me and the rest of our generation
And we are the future
our founding fathers envisioned: Out of many, one.
We are Mexican-American
No cambiaría si tuviera la oportunidad.
Out of many one.
But why then do you call me an alien?
Your hand so eager
to push me away.
Not accepted.
Not trusted.

We, who are followed around the store discreetly.
We, who are watched every time at every turn.
Eyes on our hands.
Shot
With no hesitation
because
we look
like
criminals.

His hands straight above his head,
his knees fell to the ground
with no hesitation.

Out of many, one.

Just janitors or drug dealers.
Worth more to incarcerate
Than we are to educate.

How come almost every time someone
ask one of my peers what he wants to be later in life
His answer is almost always a professional athlete?
Is it because
This is the only
Way he sees out of poverty?
Where does he see
People who look like him,
Come from a neighborhood like him?
In the NFL, NBA, and rapping on TV.

43 white presidents compared with only one 1 black president
96 white senators with only 4 Hispanic and Asian senators

No vamos a parar de pelear hasta que el Sueño Americano le aplica a todos.
Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez fighting against racism; nothing could stop them.
Stop looking at the boots and sombreros people wear,
stop looking at their skin color and hair
stop looking at the shape of their eyes.

See my potential.
See the potential of my brothers.

Este es nuestro gran sueño, y esta es nuestra oportunidad.

Out of many, one.