America founded through oppression
Built its capital on Black Bodies
Yet Pilgrims came in search of religious freedom
But whose freedom
Who decides what freedom means
Who decides which religion
Capital?
Capital has become a beast
In Legal terms a dear personhood with rights
Where are my rights?
Where are my freedoms?
Dominican blood runs through my veins
From the indigenous, black, and white blood
That makes me so complex
A race socially constructed to keep us
Separate—
yet, we are struggling for the same
Family legacy
Family security
Oh dear green money how you have captured our hearts and imagination for falsehood of security
Wars over land
Wars over oil
Wars over… name the resource— God damn where’s the Lord?
Where’s the war for our humanity?
For our collective visioning on who we are
We build
We capture
We build
We capture
Yet oh how capital has captured so many hearts
Hearts of not love completely
Hearts of fear for some
I want freedom to capture our hearts
The freedom to be human
Let me tell you what it means to be free
To be free to have access to healthcare
To be free to have access to housing
To be free to have access to education
To be free to have access to clean water and air
To be free to protect my dear Mother Nature
To be free to pursue happiness regardless of sex, creed, or Race
God damn
Where’s the Lord?
I wish to be Free
Not merely to have access
For it to be quality
For it to be equitable
For it to be for me
I wish to be Free
Dare I dream as Black Latina American
To dream is one way
To execute is another
I want
I demand to be free
Dear Lord
Will it be War
Will it be intellectuals exercising for democracy
Will it be the people
The people rising up for peace upon the world
Like Jesus
Like Buddha
I dare to say…
Let the Lord arrive in our hearts
Not to change our oppressors’
But to remind us our power
Our capacity to change the world
This freedom belongs to me
We belong to each other
Collectively we shall be free
As this child of Dominican immigrants to the US, Jennifer Disla has deep roots among working immigrant communities in the US. Early on, as she watched her father move through his career, she witnessed the power of unions to change the quality of worker’s lives. She spent the majority of her early working life as a labor organizer, working with SEIU Local 1, where she fought with the Black janitors, faith leaders, and shareholders to demand living wages and union protections in the Express Scripts facility. As the former co-Executive Director of Detroit Action, she was responsible for overseeing campaigns focused upon access to affordable housing and good paying jobs, as well as those focused upon economic and transformative justice. She is currently the Co-Executive Director of the Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice program at CUNY.
