Just because my eyes are blue
Do you doubt me
Only because my hair is brown
Do you deny me
Because my skin is not the
Golden hue of sun-warmed sisters
And my tongue does not glide over
Those words like ribbons of song
As yours does…
You turn your back
Am I not your sister?
Am I not your friend?
Do we not share the same connection
To earth our mother
Our creator
The same red blood flows through
Our veins
I feel inside my heart beating
Like that of my ancestors
My mind remembers the roughness
Of my grandfather’s hands
Guiding my own over wood
In the same way as his father did
And his father before him
I know in my heart who I am
I know in my heart who we are
I feel the fire in your eyes as once again
You push me with words of hate
And preach against these very same
And I wonder why
Why am I different
Why am I not the same
Why, because of a number, a statistic, a piece of information
That means nothing, to you means everything
Do you deny our familiar bonds
Do you deny who I am
Do you deny and laugh in my face
That I am not one of you
For I am
In every word
In every movement
In every breathe
In every thought I think and line I draw
I am a part of you that you
Can never deny
That you should not deny
That I wish you did not deny
I want to be
you