Mixed Breed

Melting pots supposedly

Mix differences into only one thing

Humans are more complex than that

Melting pot societies

Breed multicultural entities

And I mention these

Because growing up in them

Opened my mind to the truth we really are all just human

Even though my father, white as rice

And my mother, brown like beans

Like Brazilians tend to do

They mixed perfectly

To make imperfect me

Mixed breeds

Were meant to be

So many years of Imperialism and slavery

Immigration and bravery

Looking for life

In all the wrong places

But finding it all the same

Twenty years waiting for the green card

That finally came

All the while labelled illegal

Like their presence was a crime

Waiting in line

Papers in hand

Wonder why English-defeating Americans

Didn't have to fill out in triplicate

For Native Clans

Excuse me, Native Tribes

But Understand

Melting pots cook golden hearts and iron minds

With their nose to the grinding stone

Purebred means inbred

The truth is

We all have blood that doesn't match our complexion

We all have an immigrant ancestor

We are all related to a slave

And related to a master

One who screamed in agony

And one who yelled "faster"

Then finally some decided to abandon

That disaster

Fortunately, we were designed to

Make individuals no two exactly the same

Exactly Alike

Yet all equal

I look forward

to life's sequel

Where instead of "race"

We prefer the term "brother"

Because we won't be opponents in a race

But family of each other

When Black doesn't mean ghetto

White doesn't mean pathetic

Asian's eyes are called normal

Latino tongues are copasetic

Let me tell you why I say this

"acting black"

You don't stand erect

And lean like a cripple and

Fold your arms like you're strapped

And it irks me to no end

But I hear it despite

When people say

"Sorry I can't dance

I'm too white"

Speaking of speaking

My Espanol was never very bueno

But since Brazilian Portuguese is Latin based

I consider myself Latino

In class, I've heard in middle school

Why don't they all just learn English

We're in America

They could be talking about me

With that Spanish

I thought how full of themselves they must be

Then I thought a few years back that would be me

See as a child I grew up raised by alien residents

But without their alien phrase and sentence

I thought it was too hard to learn

So I gave up on the spot

Not realizing what I got

What I had

When they sent eight-year-old Jonathan to Brasil

There they picked me up from the airport I remember it still

And when they brought me to a welcoming party

They all had such joy When they caught sight of me

Ready to kiss my feet

Now I understand why

When they saw me They saw both my parents inside

And they've missed them so much

They just want to hug me tight

Like they would if my parents returned

To them on that flight

But exiting the car and surrounded by joy

I ran away from them in disgust

like the spoiled American boy

I was

But now I'm a man

With dual citizenship true

But I've got so many mixes inside me

I might as well be related to you

I've heard it said It's not easy being green

I've never met a green person

But then I've never met a white person either

Or a black person

They were shades of brown, pink, but not white no black

I guess the point I'm getting at

is that

We are product of mix

If we weren't we'd have eleven toes

And if you'd find me acceptable enough to be part of your family

Who knows

I have a cousin that's South Asian dark

and she has a sister that's European fare

And a beautiful pair they are