How can a word have so much meaning,

Yet be discarded like trash.

How can a word have so much history,

Yet be masked by society.

Never having our own identity,

Drowning in the stereotypes.

The expectations are suffocating,

Desperate to be released. 

And with every remark,

Every comment,

We stop and wonder,

Where do we stand? 

What is this image that has been drawn for us?

Is it truly us?

You tell us to go back to where we came from,

Yet this is our home. 

You accuse us for intruding,

Yet aren’t we all?

We all come from different cultures,

And we try to merge with your own,

But how can we do that when,

You claim this land as your own?

So now I ask, 

Are we not equal,

Are we not the same,

Are we not human in the eyes of your race?

You say we have rights,

You say there has been a change,

But is it truly freedom, 

If inequality remains the same?

One incident,

One event,

One attack,

Could ruin the balance,

The peace.

And we yearn,

We crave,

To have a voice,

To have freedom.

Yet with every story,

And every victim,

We are reminded that we will never be equal.