Donde esta tu lengua?
Where is your mother tongue,
Your birthright,
Your badge of honor?
Where is the song
Of your soul,
Those heartfelt words
Your mother sang to you,
Even before you were born?
Why do you call your abuelo
Grandpa?
He barely speaks Engles.
You insult him, que no?
You toss his gift,
In his face,
That most precious gift
He has passed on
From generation to generation
Polishing it to shine
So that you, tambien,
Could say with pride,
Este lenguaje es mio,
This language is mine
Yo hablo Español.
Donde esta tu lengua?
Where did you lose it?
Did someone steal it?
Why did you believe
Your White teachers,
Who falsely told your parents
Speaking Spanish will hurt
Your children.
It will make them less.
It will identify them
As other.
Que? Other?
No hay otro
There is no other.
solo estamos nosotros
There is only us.
Why did you believe
Your neighbors who threw
The rock through your
Front room window
With a note attached
Scrawled with the words,
Wetbacks go home.
Go back to Mexico,
With other words of hate
Your mother would not,
Dared not, translate
From hatred English
To understandable Español.
Donde esta tu lengua?
Que no te acuerdas?
Don’t you remember?
Donde esta tu lengua?
2 comments:
Your writing has captured the struggle to retain cultural identity in the USA. It’s partially hard on the young who are often pressured to reject their cultural heritage for the mainstream, dominate culture. If you speak a different language or have an accent you may find yourself excluded from social and economic opportunities. However, the loss of the native tongue usually spells the beginning of end for a culture for generations to come.
Language is what confirms where one belongs. We are Nehithowak, and e-nihithowiak. We are Cree and we speak Cree. We belong to Cree. In our territory it is safe to speak our language again,so no more fear of needles through our tongues by nuns and priests should we try. Today, we are proudly reconnecting our culture, language, our spirit to our essence. Key element; we the Cree.
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