Diversity and defining america

I thought I might write a little bit about diversity today. 

Merriam-Webster defines diversity as the below.

DIVERSITY (noun): (1) the condition of having or being composed of differing elements : variety, especially... or (2) an instance of being composed of differing elements or qualities : an instance of being diverse <a diversity of opinion>


Coming from America, a country which prides itself in uniting through diversity, it can be troubling at time how quickly and how often our diversity divides us. Today it's the case of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, yesterday it was election and the President's birth certificate, tomorrow it will be... better. 


Hopefully better.


But as I sat and thought how to express our sometimes frustration with a diversity which both defines and divides us, I remembered this poem I'd written last year sometime. I've  posted it below. And I think it still speaks to much of where we are. ~Tet


----------------------



Defining America (hint: there's no such thing)


It doesn't really matter, she says
It doesn't really matter
I tire of telling myself, these words
day in and day out
Trying to calm my frustrations
And about these frustrated situations we find 
ourselves in, but today

I am frustrated

It not about a place of birth or any piece of paper -- it never was
It's about our own inadequacies as a nation on stunning display
Bright as night and black as day
And in Tonight and in this today
That we would continue to pander to the ridiculous concept 
that there's a such thing as what looks like an 
American
And such a thing as what doesn't
As if there were such a thing (hint: there's not)
And this concept that someone who's born here, lived here -- all his life here, 
should have to prove his citizenship? ("what?") 
(I felt that way too)
It startles you, cuts to the core 
Of what it means to be American
Of what it means to be free(?)
That I should be able to live in this country 
and be free(?)
That I, as an American, shouldn't have to prove my legitimacy, not to you and not to any you
But this
This says to me 
That if I don't look a certain way, or talk a 
certain way
Or have a funny name, or speak with ability, 
That you have the right to question my legitimacy
as an American
That you are right to question my allegiances
As an american
And that sickens me

Sickens me as the underveiled bullshit that it 
is, which still sets to define 
what should be undefinable
What it is to look American
And what it is to be free(?)
To not be questioned, to not be scrutinized, but to be
Accepted: As we are
It should be our most treasured
Quality,
it should be our most touted
To be free and to be a free nation: to say 
what you want, to look 
how you want, to live 
how you want
And we, as Americans, pride ourselves in our ability to uphold it
To be irreverent or to be holy
To stand by the status quo, or deny it, or change it
To be our own persons, be it man or woman, or just
~To do your thang~
It's our diversity, (hint: it defines us)
And our ability to accept anyone, regardless
of shape or creed or color or love
And our repeated failure to recognize that, Our 
repeated failure 
to understand: this one thing that makes us
So Great...
it makes me frustrated
And it makes me sad.
  
And it makes me angry.
  
Angry that we legitimize this illegitimacy in constant
That we humor humorless claims
And we listen to these asses 
with naught but naught to say
These fear-mongers, attention-grabbers,
bigots, and Fools
Too insecure in their recognition of progress
Too inarticulate in their expression of 
discomfort
And too cowardly to just come out and say
it
No, too cowardly
They rather hide behind code words and c(/n)ontroversy
And instead question loyalty
And instead question legitimacy
And in stead question American

And it doesn't matter anyways... It doesn't matter (And I keep telling myself)
No matter what he says or what he shows
Or what he does or who he knows
It'll never be enough, because it was never about 
'enough'
Never about enough or what's right or what's 
proof
Only continual deniability, 
And the ever-absence of contrition.

what do they hope to accomplish here? What do 
they seek to prove? 
That he's an outsider? That he's not one of us?
What purpose does any of it serve?
This man, this president
Has never done anything that should call into 
question his allegiances. So why is it even 
a question?
Speak honestly now, what is this about?

I speak with strong words, because I am hurt
Strongly
And what it says to me is this:
It doesn't matter your accomplishments
It doesn't matter your intelligence
It doesn't matter your abilities, your 
sensibilities, your colleagues, or your wealth
He's the President (of the United States) 
...There is no higher office.
And yet to some people, you're nothing
you'll never be anything more
than...

It's difficult I think really, 
to understand the pain, it's real
Some may see it a different way, some may disagree
And as I sit today with literal tears
And confront the America we are
With the America we should be
I ...