What Patriotism Means to me

Patriotism means to me
A runaway slave dying in a country who wasn’t free
It means union soldiers who fought valiantly
Though black of skin to preserve unity

It means red skin people who died
Helping pilgrims in a new world to survive
It means white people who marched side by side
With blacks in the south against racial divide

It means men of colors of diversity
Fighting together in foxholes for a country’s liberty
It means women and men who did not fight in a war
But did their part to support what our troops fought for

Patriotism means finding and stamping out bigotry
So that people of all colors can walk in dignity
In the home of the brave and the land of the free
Where men and women of all colors died for our liberty

Patriotism is working understaffed and underpaid
Watching corporations trampling over your rights, seeing them waylaid
As they sing you the song that globalization
Is what’s best for everyone in our nation

When you see things going down the economic drain
Yet you continue on believing your efforts aren’t in vain
As you continue believing we are a land of freedom through diversity
That’s what patriotism means to me

H. Wilson