por Maritza Oropeza Kritz
Product of migration
Historic segregation
You look different, your hair is frizzy
Brown eyes, tan skin
How do you get your skin so tan?
You don’t look Mexican
How do you pronounce your name?
Waking up Brown
Part of the American statistic
Raised by a single mother
The drive instilled in us to succeed
The fear of the chancla
Towers of Pan Dulce at Abuelitas‘ house
Fights over who gets the Marranito Corrido’s in the background on Sunday afternoons
Chili so hot your eyes burn
How do you pronounce your name?
Waking up Brown
When you call us illegals
Denying our humanity
To maintain your own vanity
I mask the discomfort to fit in
You love our culture
But not our people
How do you pronounce your name?
Waking up Brown
Will this war ever end?
Land of the free
Stolen from me
How do you pronounce your name?
