We Have Petitioned for Redress

This is a poem reflection on America's view on Islams today and comparing it to the Japnese during WWII. It was inspired by the one man play, "Hold These Truths" by Jeanne Sakata.

"All men are created equal,"

our constitution says. 

We declare our independence 

and gather our unalienable rights

The Roosevelts like to forget 

the citizens that they failed 

to recognize as such,

the Japanese Americans they contained 

out of fear and the prejudice 

that rocked the country

after the bombs struck the beach.

 

"All men are created equal,"

our constitution lies. 

We declare our independence

and take away their unalienable rights.

"This is the land of the free," 

said the immigrants long ago. 

as they took them from their homes 

for their ancestry.

 

Today our Islamic peers cry 

the same song as we fight 

to keep them out. 

All they need is life

and the liberty to be 

happy. All they want   

is a home where we hold 

these truths to be true.

"Go back to where you came from!"

It's the same battle cry.

The land of the free is quite expensive

for immigrants who were promised a better life

 

From the negroes long ago, 

to the Japanese during war. 

To the Hispanics, wanting work.

Now, the Islamic people 

we frame for terrorism.  

It is the same repeated 

petitions from minorities.

Petitions for redress.  

 

Who is the "unfit ruler of the free people?"

Why must we declare 

our independence again 

and again?

Must history repeat itself?