We Are Still Here

You can try to make us invisible,
But we are still here.
You can turn a blind eye,
But we are still here.
You can minimize our traumas,
But we are still here.
You can minimize our pain,
But we are still here.

You can try to erase us,
But we are still here.
You can wipe our injustices out of your history books,
But we are still here.
You can try to deny the racism and xenophobia that lives in your heart,
But we are still here.
You can try to gaslight us until we internalize it,
But we are still here.

You can believe the white murderer,
But we are still here.
You can humanize the killer and dehumanize the victims,
But we are still here.
You can say “it wasn’t racially motivated,”
But we are still here.
You can say “he had a bad day,”
But we are still here.

You can scream, “Go back to China!”
But we are still here.
You can say, “ching chong!”
But we are still here.
You can mock our accents,
But we are still here.
You can pull up the corners of your eyes,
But we are still here.

You can blame us for the virus,
But we are still here.
You can say “kung flu” and “China virus,”
But we are still here.
You can vandalize our businesses,
But we are still here.
You can send us death threats,
But we are still here.

You can pepper-spray us in the face,
But we are still here.
You can punch us in the streets,
But we are still here.
You can slash us on the train,
But we are still here.
You can try to run us over,
But we are still here.

You can try to break us down,
But we are still here.
You can gun us down senselessly,
But we are still here.
You can just leave us to bleed,
But we are still here.
You can kill us with your silence,
But we are still here.

You can hang us from the gallows,
But we are still here.
You can sling your racial slurs,
But we are still here.
You can break our sacred bodies,
But we are still here.
You can stab us in the back,
But we are still here.

You can try to wipe us off the face of the earth,
But we are still here.

We are still here.
We are still here.

We.
Are.
Still.
Here.