Donde esta tu lengua?
By Mushroom Montoya
Donde
esta tu lengua?
Where
is your mother tongue,
Your birthright,
Your
badge of honor?
Where is the song
Of
your soul,
Those
heartfelt words
Your
mother sang to you,
Even
before you were born?
Why
do you call your abuelo,
Grandpa?
He
barely speaks Engles.
You
insult him, que no?
You
toss his gift,
In
his face,
That
most precious gift
He
has passed on
From
generation to generation,
Polishing
it to shine
So
that you, tambien,
Could
say with pride,
Este lenguaje es mio,
This language is mine.
Yo hablo Español.
Donde
esta tu lengua?
Where
did you lose it?
Did
someone steal it?
Why
did you believe
Your
White teachers,
Who
falsely told your parents
Speaking
Spanish will hurt
Their
children.
It
will make them less.
It
will identify them
As
other.
Que? Other?
No hay otro.
There is no other.
Solo estamos nosotros
There
is only us.
Why
did you believe
Your
neighbors who threw
The
rock through your
Front
room window
With
a note attached,
Scrawled
with the words,
Wetbacks
go home.
Go
back to Mexico,
With
other words of hate
Your
mother would not,
Dared
not, translate
From
hatred English
To
understandable Español.
Donde esta tu lengua?
¿Que no te acuerdas?
Don’t you remember?
Donde esta tu lengua?
Included in the anthology, Los Angeles Poets for Justice
Dedicated to the bereaved parents whose children have died at the hands of the law and to all who have suffered racial discrimination.
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