Happy America Day
Today we
celebrate the founding
Of a
European nation on a faraway land
A land the
inhabitants call
Turtle Island
The natives
embraced the name Indian
Because it
means People of God
People of
the Great Spirit
In Dios we
trust
The people
of the Great Spirit
Did not
know what to make of America
The Italian
name after the explorer
Amerigo
Vespucci
(they hardly
knew him)
We might
have been called Columbia
For the Indian
killer and slave master
We might
have been Liefland
After the Viking
explorer Erikson
But the
Vikings did not colonize
Did not
write the history books
We might
have been named after
The first
slave traders
Or the
early Spanish explorers
In search
of golden treasure
And fountains
of youth
But they
did not find what
They were
looking for
We are
Americans in America
Though Peruvians
and Canadians
Are Americans
too
We are all
Americans
Even those
who were here long before
The European
invasion
The conquest
and genocide
We are all
Americans
Even those
who came without consent
From lands
across the sea
We are all
Americans
Even those
who have toiled in the fields
And in the
homes of affluence
Raising children
of the chosen
Without acknowledgement
We are all
Americans
Even those
who were denied citizenship
And the
right to vote
At the
birth of the nation
We are all
Americans
And we
have a right to celebrate
How far we
have come
And how far
we have yet to go
