Manual High Student Poetry: Yo Soy La Nueva América

Yo Soy La Nueva América

– Nancy Chavez

http://objects-us-east-1.dream.io/kgnu-news/2015/01/1-13-15_Nancy_Chavez%20Poem.mp3]

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.

My Ethnicity comes with a culture orgullosa de ser.
I’ve listened to a Black Martin Luther King speech.
Trembling hands, harder to breath
Air so polluted of prejudice,
Blinded eyes full of stereotypes
Watching my mexican uncle cry as he bleeds
Cause’ Amendment number 2 said the white man had the right to bear arms
Now my uncle’s got a bullet through his chest.
This is the America I witnessed .

To serve and protect,” “to serve and protect”
This is what they promised me
But I don’t belong here , this is what this society believes
Constitutionally stating my freedom in 4,543 words
Allowing these 238 years of inequality.
Staring up at the veteran’s Memorial as the numbers start to rise ;
45.3 million souls living in poverty.
This is the America where I live.

My hearts starting to accelerate so fast I can’t keep up with it ,
The Aztecs and Mayans tearing down pyramids
“The time is here , the end is here”
So ashamed the world reached this point
Matthew twenty-four:thirty-six

Closed eyes, future lingering about embraced by hope
I am the new America.
The rebellion our founding fathers never envisioned
The new face, the face that isn’t white .
With a color so unique,
a color that sinks into the air as i speak.
But, as I speak you can hear the voices of my ancestors running through me.
I am what makes a culture like this so unique
I can tell you que hablo espanol not Mexican.
Because my voice is the hope that makes up the rhythm of the American song, the voice who sets reality free.
But, why should it matter if I speak?
If all you see is “illegal” written across my face
“Alien” printed on my skin.
I’m not what you think even though society brainwashes you into labeling me.
I am the new America.