Psalm 137 – Lament over the Destruction of Brown People

there we sat down and there we wept

   when we remembered Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua,

   Panama, Belize and all the people crossing the river.

2 On the Oak Trees and Cedar Elm trees there

    we hung up our guitars and our violins.

3 For there our captors

asked us for Mariachi songs,

and our tormentors asked for our corridos saying,

‘Sing us one of the songs of the Latino cucaracha people!’

4 How could we sing our coritos

    in a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O mi tierra querida,

    let my right hand wither!

6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,

     if I do not remember you,

     if I forget the taste of tortillas y tamales

    if I do not set mi gente

    above my highest joy.

7 Remember, O God, against the Yankees

   the day when our corn fields were poisoned,

   and how they said, ‘Build that wall! Build that wall!’

   Cutting down our throats!

8 O Uncle Sam, you devastator!

    Happy shall they be who pay you back

    what you have done to us! To the earth! To the world!

9 Happy shall they be who take away your entitlement

    and make you feel how we feel!

    For my conversation with Dora Muhammad for Faith, Race and Turth, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy

     with Dora Muhamm