WEBVTT

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So I wanted to read this poem.

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It's called "Ban This" from
a book by the same title by--

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I have wrote it down here.

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It came out of the
HB 2281, and it's

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from an anthology of a lot of
poets by Santino J. Rivera.

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It's called "Ban
This" from The BSP

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Anthology of Xicanx Literature.

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It's actually Chicano
with the thing,

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but all these new titles,
all these new ways of saying

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Chicano and Chicana, so anyway.

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So I use the same--

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I called it "Ban This," and this
is a series of crown cinquains.

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"Disgust lurks in
corners of your mouths

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when you look at our children
who you don't want to grow,

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to grow into people strong
in their souls searching

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for those truths
you twist into lies.

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Our strength, our
strength is in knowing

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that we were not born yours,
to do with us as you will.

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No, we are free.

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We are free.

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We, descendants of Teotihuacan,
of Toltecs, of Chichén Itzá,

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Aztlán.

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Aztlán, the place you fear.

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We might want to reclaim
our ancestral homes occupied

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by you, by you, who erase
truths that cannot be silenced

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by boxing up or burning books.

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Words live, words live, we
remember them, our love,

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our stories.

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History cannot be
erased, not banned,

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not banned because their
life, their truths,

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and beauty beat brightly
in our yoyolo hearts.

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Always, always, we, a
people of hope and struggle,

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we never give up being
us living, living.

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So ban our books,
put out a gag order.

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Yes, they charred
our codices in fire.

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Fire burned our tongues
mute, but never our minds

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to envision the future,
your fall from grace."

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