Poem: The Liberation of Juan Dela Cruz
Written by: Christine Chua
They have been lying to you your whole life
They told you that your dark skin is lesser
And should be scrubbed away until there’s nothing but bone
White.
They took you by the hand and sold you
On a life of freedom
Away from the oppression of your early years and into the shining light of promise and industry
Do not forget they sold you
For $20 million.
They took your hand, made their promises
And crossed their fingers behind their backs
They erased your history and turned you against your own blood
They made you hate the way your voice curls around words
Shoved their language down your throat until your tongue was forced to bend in unnatural ways
And silence the accent of your ancestors
They took your pride and replaced it with humility
Conditioned and praised you for humbly bowing your heads
Because it’s easier to subjugate when no one is looking up
Do not forget.
The way the sun beats down and bronzes your skin
The sound of your mother humming in the kitchen
Do not forget taking showers under hot summer rain
Or the whispers of your grandma to keep spirits away
Do not forget.
That even when they pruned our leaves and trimmed our branches to make us look presentable
And even when they cleared us out to see what little they could salvage from the war-torn rubble they left us in
They chopped us down at the trunk
But never saw how deep our roots went
Do not forget.
We are descendants of defiance
Of stubborn patriots
Of the same blood coursing under dark skin
Emblazoned and emboldened by the sun
They made empty promises like we were a formless clay they could shape however they wish
Never knowing that we were already whole without them
Burned and proofed from the kiln of countless revolutions
So do not forget
Forgetting is defeat
Do not let your children look back in search of themselves
And see nothing but someone else’s propaganda
Show them how deep your roots grow
So that even when they come to knock us down yet again
We will not be moved.