the pursuit of happiness

Bhakti Patel ’22

“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” 
the very ideals this country was founded upon
            mean nothing to us now
did “life” not apply to the  native americans
            displaced from their home by colonizers who sought to satiate their greed,
            demonized as savages because they did not conform to the white man’s standard?
did “liberty” mean nothing for the slaves
            stolen away from their lives and forced to work for the white man,
            torn away from their families and given no compensation?
does “pursuit of happiness” not apply
            if we are not rich-white-straight-cis men?
forgive me, america, for  i am not your poster child
i am the rioters in the streets, screaming for the change that we need
because when thomas jefferson penned “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
he did not mean for it to apply to sally hemmings
because when the constitutional convention met to write the founding document
they did not mean for it to protect anyone different from themselves
because when i sit in my u.s. history 1 classroom and learn about the “great founding fathers”
i am deathly aware that they did not fight with my freedom in mind
so fuck you, america.
           fuck your lies, your false promises, your skyscrapers built on hypocrisy
           fuck your glorification of our founders; they are not the gods you told me they were
unlike you, when i say “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” 
i mean it.