Unfairly Adjudicated: Onward We March

We’re not destined for defeat; thus is the song of our warriors!
Proud in our minority skins, such is a hymn of the strong.
Those who defy the expected,
Who refuse to parrot what’s directed.
For life’s an unrelenting fight,
For those in penthouses, and brethren under city tents.
Reject this reality, or risk becoming its faint echo.

Rise, and take your stride!
This one’s for my kin, those valuing what’s right,
And for the working class, the downtrodden in their plight.
So too, for those envisioning an America undivided,
For now, stand two Americas --who dare deny it?

I’m from the America that’s overlooked,
Supposed affirmative-action beneficiaries, and the so-called state-assisted.
That’s what they see in us, but deeper runs our humanity,
We’re not victims and instead, continue to live as soldiers!

Look at us: human and proud.
Commanding the language of the free, the knowledge of science, and making our ancestors proud.
Descendant of slaves because Europe kidnapped our forebears,
But our spirit’s untamed; our Africa bears no arrears.

We started from afar, shackled at the feet.
The system gave us nothing, leaving us to fight!
From the start line, the race was rigged,
We were meant to fail and yet ended up barred, in more ways than one.

Our humanity’s been degraded and if we dare speak up, emotions spar.
We’ve swum in deep waters, handed no life jackets,
With urban scars etched in our tattoos, perennial rebels we stand!
As hope’s never left our side,
We’ve awaited better days, and dared to defy,
And onward we must press.

Aspiring and working to be victors, we’re labeled the fallen,
All because we hail from the inner city.
Gazing at the stars, yet bearing the scars.
Why are most of us in the ghettos, and many of them partying at the Ivy League?
We, standing behind bars, and they, lying and harming, on our dime in the Senate?
Defending their interests, sidestepping our struggles.

Doomed to fail, we are not.
And if knowledge is a weapon, let’s use it to self-arm,
If knowledge is a weapon, we have no choice but to wield it.
For without it, we stand defenseless.

Despite the betrayals and injustices of nine unjust so-called Justices,
Beneath their pressure and delusion, we endure.
Their moral bankruptcy escalates, and the opulent indulgences they relish,
Despite racial oppression, prejudice, and detentions,
Despite their incitements, and suppositions,
The societal misunderstandings,
The anxieties and impulses,
Their intent to keep us subdued,
Only ignites our determination,
Nurtures our ambition.

It’s time for the second, and oppressive, America to awaken!
What an oligarchical and unjust America doesn’t grant us, we must take.
Minority and proud,
We’re not fated for failure and loss.
In suits, fancy buildings, gentle or tough,
It’s a crime against our future that a White Supremacist America commits.

This poem is for the discriminated, and often falsely accused,
The innocents, treated like criminals.
If we roar like lions, it’s because we won’t stand down,
Even if overcoming requires twice the courage, twice the rage,
Twice the line-holding, twice the Dessalines-invoking,
Even if there are twice the obstacles and half the advantage,
Twice as sweet, our victory will taste.
And before we can savor it, we’ll withstand twice the sabotage.

The traps stand numerous, so we must be doubly careful,
Twice as qualified and thrice as driven.
Even if we want to lament,
Let’s rise and take our stride!
Minority and proud,
Doomed to fail we’re not!
We’re destined for success,
To shatter obstacles, to erect careers.

Look at what our parents have accomplished,
Their endurance birthing our chances at an education,
Without their sacrifices, where would we stand?
Like harmonious symphony,
Indeed, work has its rewards,
How we honor our parents,
Blue-collar and proud.
If we waste it all, then where lies the honor?
If we falter, then where lies the progress?

Every child of an immigrant is on a mission,
Every child of the human race nurtures a dream and ambition.
Nothing can halt a determined human being in battle,
We’re potent and humble, and our youth brims with promise.
Immense is their talent.

Do you see the weak in our midst?
I see only those brandishing their strength,
Minorities and proud,
In no way are we doomed to failure.

This text, I felt compelled to present,
Even if with a heavy heart,
And if we cry and decry, let them be tears of determination,
For this is not a grievance but a revolution!
Learn, understand, and act, even when it hurts.
Rise, struggle, and advance.