The Justice

I am a daughter of Globalization
One of many that find refuge in traveling the skies
And blending imaginary boundaries

1 1/2 generations, ni de aqui ni de aya, immigrants
Womyn of color that are nannies to white children,
Children of color that are adoptees of white parents,
Domestic workers, Sex workers, Workers…the list goes on

We blend identity like the café con leche
That I drink on most afternoons,
When the skies get grey, the struggle gets heavy,
And my soul tells me that in Guatemala, el pan con café, is ready.

Our values can only exist
In an anatomical vacuum called our soul.
Our tribulations and ambivalence lays deep within solitude.
Finding shared experience is dependent on your level of privilege.
The more privileged are more lonely.

Those of us that escape to private education,
Find that people read our stories in books,
And talk about our experiences as theory.
I've been used as an example of oppression in too many classes.

I've found peers that know more about my people's history, than I do.
No one taught me about the tragic CIA interventions in Latin America.
No one explained that my blood is a mixture of roots,
Indigena, Africana y Europea. For the most part.
No one told me that in college
People study your people's history as a sociology class.
And then ask you to explain yourself.

I bond with white friends and partners
That are open-minded, and want to learn about my culture.
Too often I objectify myself and my experiences,
Just to be able to engage in conversation.

The stark separation that exists between college and my hood,
Is one that will always live within me.
Never quite understood by those in school,
Never quite explained to those back home.
It's just one of those concrete imaginary boundaries that I live in.

I will continue to exist in ambivalence.
It may be the only place I can find comfort.
And while there's few of us in these spaces,
I'm sure I'll find those that understand my ubiquitous limbo.
And we shall travel together,
In dimensions only we can understand.

The writer is a member of the Class of 2007.

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