Puerto Rican Woman

Puerto Rican Woman

by Vanesa ‘Littlecrow’ Colon-Ortiz
November 1999

          I am a mixed-blooded citizen
          of the United States of America,
          as was my great-great grandmother,
          my great grandmother before me,
          my grandmother and my mother.
          This is how I know I’m an American.
          But you, young man whose
          grandparents lived in Europe
          long before they went to Ellis Island,
          Disagree with my viewpoint, vehemently.
          You want me to go back to Mexico
          even though I never lived there.
          You claim that true Americans
          speak English only and that
          I should forget my other languages.
          So it really doesn’t matter that
          I read Cervantes and Shakespeare
          to pass the my idle time while
          you consider Jerry Springer
          a wealth of valuable information.
          In your mind, the American Way
          is the path towards stupidity.
          In your mind, I am simpleton because,
          I have an accent and people who speak
          “good English” don’t.
          (At least, they think they don’t.)
          In your eyes, you see me as a hostile
          dark-skinned foreigner even though
          my blood is as mixed as yours and
          my roots here are longer than yours.
          So, even if you do mind, I’ll
          vehemently disagree with your views.
          Perhaps you haven’t noticed,
          but America is a Spanish variant
          of an Italian man’s name.
          The natives of the land
          before the Spanish named her
             weren’t of British blood.

 

Vanesa is an artist, cartoonist, professional model, and owner of VasLittlecrow.com


 

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