Constant frustration has been housed in my physical body, in my heart and mind, regarding the treatment of communities of color regarding years sustainability, eco-friendliness, or whatever term to describe a go-green mindset. For one, it only accommodates one group: A group that is given continuous access to resources of any regard and acclaimed for being innovative and intelligent for keeping the world a healthier place.

Well, this automatically creates a mindset; communities of color have not once done anything to protect the rights of the human population or the planet that houses us. It also states that this acclaimed group was the first to initiate positive environments. Automatically, we are now left with a labeling of communities of color as ignorant around certain issues, specifically around environmental issues.

Despite this idea already created toward a group of people, a lack of resources still exists and extends. Communities of color are merely provided the stereotype of ignorant. This label is what angers me. It only increases each day, knowing that the land of my people is seen as a place that pollutes the air that is needed to live.

Instead of fueling my anger in an argument, I produced a piece that shows a lineage of suffering and unappreciative:

I find myself stranded by abundance

Of supposed protection.

Surrounded by walls on every corner

That in actuality,

Create an internal drowning.

In those deep waters,

I see the care provided by

The healers of the land.

My people continuing a preservation

Of vegetation.

Connecting the people with the

Exterior world.

A connection of

Peace.

As I continue in the waters,

Viewing that safeness that surrounds the atmosphere,

An invasion populates.

My people are traumatized by a

Kidnapping of their cared-for

home.

This kidnapping still lives in

My blood.

My blood aches more from the

Erasure that people have created

In their minds

Of my people.

Forgetting to see the

Healthy world they had provided

That is now decaying

In global warming.