My grandma, my Filipino queen
She praised me for my complexion that's like cream
But to me, her color was a dream
Her shade was a beauty left unseen in her eyes
As she told me that to be pale was a prize
Her colonial mentality feeding me lies
Because those weren't the words I had been dying to hear
I wanted Tagalog being spoken into my ear
I asked her not to let my American culture interfere
With teaching me a language that still remains unclear
And foreign
She tells me stories of the islands and I want to hear more
And she tells me of the people's war
And quite frankly I can't understand
Why she waited this long to speak of her native land
Her descriptions may not be all palm trees and sand
But she'd be crazy to think that I would ever find my people unimportant or bland
I tell her I want to stand in the country she was born
To try on the traditional dresses she has worn
I ask her what made her come here and be torn
From her home and our culture
I don't say it but I view her face like a priceless sculpture
Her pinay eyes molded to the perfect slant
Little does she know I apply make up
To make my eyes look like that
But my mixed blood tells me I can't
But I hope she knows I'm trying
I'm not ashamed of nor denying my roots
Recruit me to fight the battle for true freedom
Her frail hands represent our ancestors pain
And its their blood coursing through my veins
So we interlock fingers like the strong interlocked chains
Holding my people to Fields and plains
Where they work from sun up to sun down
Without a peso to their name
I ask my grandma how did she stay sane
Knowing our family was being slain
Over greed for coconuts and sugar cane
Lives sacrificed for money gained
And America's hands stained
With the blood of my own
My grandma's wisdom sewn in my mind like a seed
Produced roots and is now grown
Her strength within my bones as I prepare to fight
Not just for my family's rights but for their lives
The knives used in their very own fields
Being stuck through their spines
But as for me , I want to use those knives
To destroy the system that binds them
To destroy the lies that blind them
For my people are like diamonds
And I want an end to those that mine them
And exploit them for their worth
Yet treat them worse than the average stone
Power to my people as they sit in their rightful thrones
Right beside my grandma, my Filipino queen