White Americans, you are infatuated with the Statue of Liberty whose tablet contains words of welcome for all, who did in fact welcome you and your ancestors, and you are simultaneously infatuated with carving lines and borders between who does and does not belong here, with yourselves on one side of the line and the other half of America on the other. You think your whiteness makes you better than the rest of us. You make us your scapegoat. Your excuse for your violent rage.
[“It’s not all of us, stop saying it’s all of us,” you say, my white brethren.]
[You want to be treated as an individual instead of a stereotype.]
And I will get out of bed anyway and go out into the streets of America to do my work, to find true love, to raise children who know how to work hard and be kind to others. To speak.