Liberty and justice for all.

But what about the black sons and daughters

who have “the talk” with their parents at 12 years old?

But not that talk, not the one about sex.

The one where daddy and momma sit down on the couch,

and say if a cop stops you,

do exactly as they say,

put your hands where they can see them,

and tell them when you reach for your ID.

Do not move unless they tell you to.

Why?

Because momma and daddy don’t want you to die.

What about the kids who go to school wearing a hijab,

and hear someone say “terrorist” under their breath in the hallway?

The girl with pink converse shoes and a big smile, she’s a terrorist?

The girl with pink converse and a big smile

is just the girl with pink converse and a big smile,

and the girl with a kind heart,

the girl who believes in equality,

the girl who sees the best in everyone.

Not a terrorist.

What about the job-stealing immigrants?

Who come home at midnight,

the kids already in bed,

who ate dinner four hours earlier.

Dinner that was paid for by the paycheck that dad brought in yesterday.

Dinner that was served on a broken-legged table

that still doesn’t shake as much as the children did where they used to live.

What about the 16 year old girls,

Who see the plus sign on that pregnancy test, because they weren’t educated about protection?

Or because, sometimes, mistakes just happen.

She couldn’t tell her parents,

but there was the coat hanger method.

What about the 18 year old girls who get raped at their first frat party?

Was it because her skirt was too short

or because a man took what wasn’t his to take?

What about the couple who walks down the street holding hands?

Who have to let go when someone else turns the corner.

Who have to pretend they’re just friends when anyone else is around,

Because their friends were killed last year by people who

beat them in an alleyway, calling them “f*****s” and

“trannies” while doing so.

See, there was no way to prepare them for this.

they didn’t know that loving someone

or being who you are

came at a cost like this.

These costs, they’re not mentioned in the pledge of allegiance.

Or the national anthem.

Or in the Constitution.

Or in the Declaration of Independence.

So I stand up at school every morning,

facing the flag, hesitant to put my cold hands over that beating thing in my chest

and I hear

liberty and justice for all.

But I think,

liberty and justice for all?

Liberty and justice for some.