Lissette Quiñones
Arts & Entertainment Editor
But she can’t speak for herself since she doesn’t know the language
And although she’s weeping for help, all she seems to do is vanquish
It’s like the ones who should flourish are the same ones to languish
As if they shouldn’t have courage to speak their native, spanglish
Damn right, I’m angry for the pride of my people
For how are we supposed to thrive if they still deem us “illegal?”
And how are we supposed to survive within a dream that is lethal?
Please, don’t tell me you see eye to eye in something UNEQUAL
It’s like the scales of justice never seem to be aligned
And while they say to “trust this”, we just know they’re always lying
But with the moral compass of a mother and a lion,
It’s best to never mess with brown girls who are within their prime.
Because it’s most likely that she came up with no ‘pot to piss in’
She didn’t need a man nor needed fake love from such politicians
Every other plan seemed like the outlook of some polished prisons
And yet some want to say they understand the life of abolished women?
Uh uh, no ma’am, just take a bow, just roll your tongues and say this loud:
“I have NEVER bowed down to a white man, I WON’T do it now”
Mamacitas que tan bailando, con el corazón pegao
My latinas, please come and follow, let us own this cause we’re brown
She’s lightly colored but her blood is bleeding black,
Rhythms of a spicy mother, but it’s something from a deepened track
Cooking con sazon for supper, our children always eating that
But still, she wishes they would love her enough to bring freedom back
Mírame en los ojos y dígame que me amas,
Nations composed of cholos, Boricuas, y las Cubanas
Todas con sangre rojo y labios Dominicanas,
Concrete roses where solo, we rose up as brown, slick “mamas”
Pages in history books could never tell our stories
Raging with misery because the “lessers” did it for me
Caging such liberty since the repressors have their glory
Prayed the epitome and betrayed her because she’s a Bori
We never get no love, no affection, no sort of peace within our world
Whatever we’re made of, legend says it’s not ‘easy’ being girls
We’re better but “not by much”; see why we question the things we’ve heard?
Taking pleasure in how you judge us, our faces and all our curls
She’s beautiful, but you’re never reminded of her potential
Just let the truth unfold and see diamonds form circles in her centrals
For it’s unsuitable to be hurtful and yet to pretend to be so gentle
Delusionally jumping over hurdles because you say that we are “mental”
ATTENTION, ATTENTION- I speak for every single piece within her heart
A lesson to teach you how to unwrinkle creased up scars
The oppression in our sheets that trickles out, into the dark
And the tension that’s in the streets that will not let us twinkle like stars
I apologize in advance, but this is what our truths unfold
In the demise within our chance, I shall tell you all the things you weren’t told
They despise our stance, and the skin that glows and grows just as you get old
But baby, please do understand that is what makes you beautiful.
So, I guess it’s time that we accept what’s true,
Repent for all your crimes against the opposite sex of you
Especially the ones like me and the things that we all went through
Because all we wanted was to be women treated like men, too
Regardless of her race, her pronouns and her “real” color
You should look upon her face and notice there’s no other
Beauty in our grace, we were passed down from our brown mothers
But Latinas aren’t erased, so if she’s brown, you’ve got to love her.