A Voice From Third World America

Why did I entitled my book of poetry, A Voice From Third World America? What was the difference between America and Third World America? It is the America in which I was born as a Sharecropper's daughter. It is the America I observed as I grew up in the American foster care system. It is the America I analyzed as a homeless teenager and sex trafficking victim. It is the America seen through my eyes as a single black mother that lost a son to the injustice system. It is the America I tried to escape as a black American woman that wore the veil of Islam for seven years. It is the America I studied as a work ant in Corporate America. It is the Americans that militant groups prey on for recruits because those that live in this America already feel like they never were really part of America. I do not write about the American dream but the American nightmare in hopes that we will wake up and get real to heal. As Coretta Scott King said, "Women if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul."