I was born in the United States of America
     I was taught 
the USA was the greatest nation in the world

     no question	they said

I pledged allegiance 

     to the Flag of the United States of America 
     and to the Republic for     which it stands

one Nation under God [only added in 1954 to scare off the commies] indivisible     with liberty and justice for all

     but whose flag is it really 

the flag     patriotism     god     country     exceptionalism		these words inspired us to stand for our nation     community     neighbors
and     the American Way

     we were taught to follow mindlessly     without reservation		and without questions 

as I stood there in Saint Rita’s Catholic school classroom 		with the white faces and red hair and blond hair and white shirts and white blouses and blue pants and black pants and the nuns covered head to toe in their hijabs 		without their faces covered 		so you can clearly see their scowls under the large cross 		at the front of the classroom 	reminding us constantly 	that the flag and religion go together

     like rice and beans and corned beef and cabbage and spaghetti and meatballs
 
while I stop     and take it all in 

     as they lead us in a solemn tribute     to a country where I tell myself 	

I am an American

     but they tell me 	  I must be joking because     I’m not really like them 

my father 	is from Puerto Rico
my mother 	is from the Dominican Republic 

     wherever the hell that is 	they add

though I was born in Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx 	doesn’t give me the right to think 	I’m an American     when it was just an accident of time and place 	the truth is  	

     I could have been born somewhere else     like Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic 	although I keep telling them     Puerto Ricans are American citizens since 1917 

they keep telling me 		they don’t care 	because it’s nothing more than an island where they take the whole family on vacation to San Juan beaches and that rainforest whose name they can’t pronounce

     and anyway everyone knows	Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic 	doesn’t send their best and brightest 		except rapists and murderers and bank robbers and juvenile delinquents 	so I’m not a real American blue blood 	but probably a descendant of criminals 

but but      we have teachers     store owners     lawyers    ministers     in our ancestry 

     they ask me     do they have freckles and red hair and black hair 	like those nice Irish and Eyetalian kids whose parents hang out at that social club across the street from Saint Rita’s Parochial school     

sipping expresso and playing cards and kissing the ring of the old man 	who occasionally shows up in a Cadillac with a fat driver and his pinkie ring and shiny suits and silk overcoats and shoes 	that definitely weren’t bought at Buster Brown 

     and all I can think     as I stand at full attention 	with my right hand above my heart	screaming louder than all the other kids in the class
 
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America 

     trying to prove 	yes I am an American 	and they’re laughing because I’m screaming 

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America 

     louder and louder     and sister Mary Joseph Jesus is now looking at me sternly and warning 	she will not tolerate anyone 	making fun of the pledge of allegiance to the United States of America 

even people who claim to be American     just because they were born here by accident

     in the greatest country in the world 		instead of somewhere else 		like on a boat called SS Marine Tiger 	or one of those propeller planes that come from some foreign country 	like Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic 		destined for LaGuardia or Idlewild Airport in New York 	where those black or brown or yellow looking people 	arrive to infect this great nation with foreign blood 

did I tell you that Puerto Ricans are American citizens since 1917
 
     and strange customs and strange music and strange language 

is that Spanish		I hear 

     that is definitely 	not American or English 

and I scream louder 

     I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands     one Nation under God     indivisible with liberty and justice for all

because I was told 	by my father from Puerto Rico and my mother from the Dominican Republic 	they came to the United States of America 	because they were told by their uncles and aunts and cousins and radio shows and newspapers and movies before there was television

     the United States of America was the home of the free and home of the brave and that there was an America the beautiful 

that people have been coming from countries like Ireland and England and France and Italy and Germany and Spain 	and they believed it means 	they could also be welcomed 		because they were looking for the same damn dreams 	those people from Ireland and England and France and Italy and Germany and Spain were looking for 

     everyone is looking at me 	as I’m thinking these things 	and they can hear me under the pledge of allegiance to the flag 	screaming that I am also an American 	because I was born at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx

and I am American citizen 	and anyway my father was already an American citizen since he was Puerto Rican     so I am an American because I was born in the United States of America 

     as the voices stop     and I drop my hand from my chest     and smile broadly on my brown face under my black hair and through my brown eyes and nod 	this is who I am

an American 

      as American as apple pie with a cherry on top 	with the Declaration of Independence in my blood 	or at least they told me it should be there
 
We hold these truths to be self-evident     that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life     Liberty     and the pursuit of Happiness

     even while we discovered another truth

those that signed the Declaration of Independence — nearly three-quarters also owned slaves 

     “Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, about 25 owned slaves…” 

honoring the first Presidents 

     “…at least thirteen presidents were slave owners at some point during their lives it was just the time George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant”

founding fathers of the new nation 	 built on the stolen lands of Indigenous people 	and on the backs of people stolen from the African continent and sold into slavery		the exclusion of women	indigenous people 

     “…Trail of Tears where over 10,000 Native Americans died during removal or soon upon arrival in Indian Territory” 

and Black people 	You robbed our lives		from participating fully in the rewards of this nation 	even while you exploited us and killed us    when you had no more use for us     bleeding and dying 

     “…a more accurate estimate of Civil War deaths is about 750,000, with a range from 650.000 to as many as 850,000 dead” 

to merge a divided nation 	with one side protesting slavery 	and the other side resisting the end of it 	and both sides afterward 	turning a blind eye to the horrors of a post-civil war reconstruction era 	in the name of Jim Crow laws 	and the genocide 	where from 1882 to 1968, 4,743 lynchings occurred in the U.S.

     that so easily flowed 	from the national character of that period		the exploitation of workers	the fight to bar laws and regulations 	that would protect them	the two world wars to make freedom ring 	no Black and Brown people need to apply	but if you did	you could not fight alongside white soldiers because 	we don’t need to share the spotlight of heroism with anyone else 

so when you watch War Movies	you can see for yourself 	who the real heroes are	the ones fighting for freedom and the American Way 	except where it doesn’t apply to woman	people of color	and Indigenous people

     and nowhere does this nation 	post-World War Two during my early life even try to portray the truth of America’s messy hisStory 	whether in textbooks	television shows	and movies 	because it is easier to live with a lie 		than confront the truth 
while celebrating white European hisStory and culture 	to the exclusion of the other world’s hisStories and culture 

the Maya Civilization, circa 2600 BCE – 900 CE, The Ancient Egyptians, circa 3150 BCE – 30 BCE, The Indus Valley Civilization, circa 3300 BCE – 1900 BCE, Mesopotamia, circa 3500 BCE – 500 BCE, Jiahu, circa 7000 BCE – 5700 BCE, The Indigenous Peoples Of Australia, circa 50,000 BCE 

     so we can continue to claim    this is White Man’s Country 	  while portraying everyone else as the intruder	the invader	stealing this land from them 	and trying to behave through the sixties and seventies that the chants of recognition of equal rights and equal history and equal culture for all non-white people 		is a bridge too far 

the consequences of America’s hisStory of exclusion 		straight into the very tired delusion of denial that anyone deserves responsibility for that history 	  while claiming the alternative hisStory of exceptionalism as the only true hisStory 	

     all the while going bat-shit crazy 	when a half-black, half-white man is elected President 	and they fret and protest about being forced to drink tea (bags) 	when what they really want is some good old American Budweiser		none of that unamerican nonwhite mixed race culture shit 	whose only goal is to extinguish the white race 

“Eventually, whites will become a minority, dropping below 50% of the U.S. population in around the year of 2045” 

     and we can’t have that 

thereby giving rise to the hysterics of Christian White Nationalism		Donald Trump		and the ever present 	American Nightmare (Facing the Challenge of Fascism) 	we now face 	and are faced with a decision greater than anyone that I have faced since I was able to vote in 1966

     a choice (there is no choice)     between the appearance of (corporate but not totally exclusionary and in need of some serious reworking) Democracy 	     and the real     more than a threat but a promise of Fascism Undisguised	to ensure that power stays with those who will profit the most from the waves of the flag

and I am told I am not an American
     if I don't wave that flag
that citizenship     (papers     let me see your papers) alone
     don't make you an American

look me in the eye
     American is     everything the founding fathers
only wanted for    white euro men
     now     we want those for us

wave the star spangled banner
     sing the pledge of allegiance to the illusion of their America
bombs bursting in air
     celebrating an independence for the few at the expense of the many 
and behaving that it’s all heartwarming
     hand on your heart patriotism

when it is nothing more than a reality show called America 
     that is soon to be cancelled.