"Other"- A Poem

Glancing down at this job application,

I can feel its bold, dark black ink judging me.

Are you American Indian? No

Are you Asian? No

Black? Native Hawaiian? No

White? HELL No

Oh, okay. So you must fall under “other” then.

NO, I am Latino (Latinx)

The ink continues to attempt to chain me with its ignorance

It mocks,

“But you talk white”

I articulate and use proper grammar.

I am brown and educated thanks to Brown V Board of Education.

“But you do not speak Spanish”

First off, it’s Español

Secondly, y a ti que te importa (mind your own business).

Trust me, I have heard it all.

I am proud to be brown.

Brown like the color of my eyes, which when met by the sun shine brighter than your blue eyes ever will.

Brown like the jewelry you wear because, to you, we accessorize this country with our culture.

Brown like the countless pennies kept from my people’s salaries because they are “aliens”.

Brown like the mud rotting under the government’s boots as they attempt to kick us out of this country.

But we are not going anywhere,

We, the strongest of the strong, will take your punches,

We will continue to rise above the labels,

We will continue to rise above the stereotypes,

We will continue to rise above the fact that, to you, we are the “other”

Because, to us, we are the anchor.