The Poetry of Hannah Roth: This American Nightmare

This poem is part of a special presentation of The Poetry of Señoritas Latinas Unidas Sorority, Inc. If you are interested in seeing the entire collection of poetry submitted by this organization, click here.

This American Nightmare

By: Hannah Roth  

All aboard this ride of thrills, nightmares, and horror.

Are you scared?

I said, are you scared?

Because we are creeping our way into the system,

Because we are infecting you with our strength.

Are you scared yet?

Because we are jacking your jobs and stealing your spots at schools?

Damn fools.

Are you scared yet?

Because we want a center to educate and celebrate,

but you deny and say we want to segregate.

Because we want to stand for our rights, protest with all our might,

But instead you claim we spread hate in our fight.

Are you scared yet?

Because we want a better life,

Our words laced with the dreams of our mothers, the hope of our fathers, and the strife of our history.

But you won’t digest them, cough up our american dream that we never owned nor rented…

Are you scared yet?

Because our tongue dances a foreign art. 

Porque crees que somos tontos, nuestro idioma, una carga— a burden. ¿Entiendes?

But—THIS IS AMERICA, SPEAK ENGLISH.

Are you scared yet?

Because along the lines we will cease from being the minority

And populate this land of the free,

This land that’s also supposed to be for me. 
Because our numbers can rise like a tidal wave with great force, we can win the vote.

Are you scared yet?

Because now we’ve even made our way to the white house.

We believe in Change.

Are you scared yet?

Because you want to know whether she will let her racial bias affect her decisions as Justice…

THIS ONE IS FOR EVERY MINORITY THAT HAS HAD TO STAND IN FRONT OF A WHITE JURY, A WHITE JUDGE, AND A WHITE BLINDING CLOUD OF IGNORANCE.

How dare you question what we deal with every single day of our lives.

And oh yeah, she IS a wise Latina.  AND WHAT?

Are you scared yet?

BECAUSE I HAVE A SILENT FURY BOILING INSIDE OF ME. 
BECAUSE I AM TIRED OF HAVING TO KEEP SILENT.

BECAUSE I HAVE A VOICE—and I’m not afraid to use it.  

Are you scared yet?

America, are you scared yet?

Comments

[andres morales]

very nice.... host sister continue kicking the asses of bad politics and judges... CONGRATULATIONS ... del ecuador para el mundo bye...

[Tiffany]

That's my boo..I love this piece..holds a lot of truth to it...you go girl

[Daniel]

The piece really spoke to me.