Who are we? What's with language?

Patriotic

I grew up thinking 

believing

that America was the land of the free and the home of the brave 

I sang the star-spangled banner with pride

when I read “with liberty and justice for all”

I thought it meant something

but as I grew up

I began to realize

it only meant something

for a very small group of people

You see

it started when I realized I will always be less than

because 

I 

am

a

woman

I learned about the pay gap

I was taught how to not get raped

I was told my worth was found in my virginity 

I met boys who didn’t believe no meant no

I starved myself to fit a part

I was pushed to pursue feminine careers

I rarely saw myself in our history books

I was told I was bossy

They tried to teach me to be submissive

I was ridiculed for what I wore

or what I didn’t 

but the more I realized that maybe America was never great to women

I was struck with the reminder

that I was white

that I was cis

that I was middle class

that I had grown up a christian 

as you can see

I began to see 

that my vendetta against America

had to be much greater than me

the pain it had caused me was merely a drop of rain in the flood of discrimination, of hurt, of oppression, of pain that it had caused so many others

I wanted to scream

I won’t try and tell their stories because I have not lived them

but to live in a country with

unfulfilled promises

broken policies

and where the American dream is 10x harder to achieve

is no fantasy

I won’t apologize for being angry

because I am

I am hurt

and I am hurting for those who have been hurt worse than me

I am tired of holding my breath

crossing my legs

and staying silent

I have too much pride in America

too much faith in America

too much love for America 

to let it continue to be what it is for so many

like me

asking for reform

demanding change

begging for equality

does not make me unpatriotic

I would argue

that wanting America to be the best it can be 

is what makes me 

Patriotic