The Most Disregarded Label
Mujer
Xicana Activista
Poeta Feminista
Vegetarian from El Segundo?
Anti-Capitalista de La Bowie?
Straight-ish Mejicana?
On and on with the subcategories
Under the umbrella of the most controversial one,
My most disregarded label is the most accurate one.
I’ll dare to say it.
Are you ready?
I’m a human.
A human being.
Standing in this room,
I take in this air,
caress it with my lungs,
it gives oxygen to my Xicana blood,
it gives life to my woman heart,
as I exhale,
you take in all that was inside me.
The air is shared and equally gives to all of us,
it cannot be created nor destroyed.
This is the air that your ancestors breathed,
The air your grandkids will taste,
This air the desert animals and desert plants breathe,
This air the feminist and the machista breathe,
This air the brown man and the racist breathe,
This air the gay and the homophobe breathe
This air the migrante and the migra breathe,
This air the leftist and the rightist breathe,
This air the socialist and the capitalist breathe,
This air that the man with the gorrita breathes,
This air la senora de la esquina breathes.
Our voluntary segregation is not advancing any cause.
I’m tired of fighting, can’t we all just get along?
Ha, I hear the quiet laughter in the room…
“Esta nina mensa needs to get a hint!”
Y pues, con ellos I agree!
Oh hermanas y hermanos don’t you see
That your most accurate label
is the most disregarded one.
Be controversial!
Be bold and courageous!
Say you’re a human!
Grita que eres humano from the top of the Franklin Mountains!
Gritalo del Scenic Drive!
Chicana pride?
I’m all for it.
El Chuco Pride?
I’ll put it as a bumper sticker.
Puro Segundote?
I’ll tattoo it on my arm.
Hardcore feminist?
I’ll write it on my resume.
Pero I’ll put a disclaimer,
mas que todo esto soy revolutionary humanista!
Y lo digo con mucho pride,
Que my most disregarded label,
Is my most accurate one.
I’ll scream it from this humble stage,
Soy Pura Humana!
Humana de mi barrio Planet Earth,
¿Y qué?
Nancy Lechuga © February 2010
