"Stupid America" by Abelardo Delgado

This poem, written by Abelardo Delgado, is from his first collection of poetry entitled Chicano: 25 Pieces of a Chicano Mind, published in 1969. The first thought that came to my mind after I finished reading this was wow. This poem was very powerful; it made me see things in a different light, and I want to read more of his work. His poem brings to the forefront all that Americans use as examples to label Hispanics as bad, stupid, or dangerous. In one part of the poem, he says "hear that chicano/shouting curses on the street/ he is a poet/ without paper and pencil/ and since he cannot write/ he will explode." I had heard this view before, of rap being considered poetry, so this did not suprise me. However, when I read the line "he cannot write," I asked myself why can't he? Is it because he does not physically posess a pencil and paper? Is it because even if he wrote poetry, no one would publish it? Or is it that, because of racial prejudices, he was not able to attend school, and was therefor literally unable to write? This thought angers and saddens me because everyone should be allowed free public schooling, especially in elementary school. Not allowing children in on the basis of race or color of skin is simply disgusting. The most impactful part of the poem for me was at the end. It goes, "stupid america, remember that chicanito/ flunking math and english/ he is the picasso/ of your western states/ but he will die/ with one thousand masterpieces/ hanging only from his mind." How sad it is to realize that so many wonderful people - painters, poets, and so many others - will not be offered the opportunities that present themselves to us, but will get turned down time and time again solely because of their ethnic background. How unfortunate it is that we may never get to enjoy what they have to offer because of our silly misconceptions.