Summer is here, and area schools have let out. To kick things off, we're launching a new season of WYSO Youth Radio. We’ll hear stories from students across Dayton, Springfield, and beyond.
For this episode, Springfield School of Innovation High School student Omaria Ali shared a poem confronting systemic injustice, racial inequality, and the complicated promises of American freedom.
Ali said she was first inspired to write poetry by a teacher in eighth grade.
“I was going through a lot,” she said, “and she allowed me to use my voice through poetry. I probably would have let go of writing if it wasn’t for her.”
Here is her poem, "Land of the Free," in full:
WYSO Youth Radio is produced for the ear and designed to be heard, not read. We strongly encourage you to listen to the audio by clicking on the blue "LISTEN" button above, which includes emotion and emphasis not on the page.
Land of the free, or so they say.
Really that phrase is just a dream that’s sold.
The men who fought for our freedom?
Yeah, that’s just a story that’s told.
Their sacrifices, their battles fought,
Their stories silenced, left to rot.
Oh, we’re so free because women vote
And little brown kids have hope.
We’re so free because as a woman,
I can work in an office.
But why does my mother worry for my brother
Every time he leaves the house?
Because the color of his skin
Is seen as a threat, a sin.
We say free, but at what cost
When lives are still being lost?
But we’re free because I have the right to remain silent.
And don’t get me wrong—Blue lives matter, yes, this is true,
But we bleed the same,
So my life is no more important than you.
And I hate to sound biased,
But you take lives just as much as you save them.
But I’m supposed to be okay
With modern day
Because at least I’m not a slave.
To even assume that is real brave.
I understand the sacrifice
Of those who wear the badge,
Risking their lives to protect and serve.
But when justice is blurred and power is abused,
The line becomes thin between hero and villain.
Blue lives matter, yes—
But so do Black lives and brown lives
And all lives in between.
We’re all just trying to survive
In a system that’s broken,
Where inequality is spokenIn whispers and shouts,
In every corner and throughout.
I hate to sound biased,
But the truth is clear:
Some wear a uniform and some spread fear,
While others wear skin that’s seen as a sinIn the eyes of those who don’t know where to begin.
We bleed the same.
Red blood flows through every vein,
No matter our race
Or our placeIn this world that we share.
But some still don’t care
About the pain and despair
That others endure
Because of the color they wear.
You take lives just as much as you save them.
But I’m supposed to be okay
With the injustice and mayhem
That exists in the frame of a broken system
Where some are protected
While others are victim.
I’m told to be grateful
For the progress we made,
But to act like it’s enoughIs to live in charade—
To pretend that we’re free
When we’re still in chains,
Bound by the past
And haunted by stains
Of a history that’s marred
By oppression and scars.
I refuse to believe
That this is the best we can be—
That we’re doomed to repeat
The mistakes of our ancestry.Land of the free by Omaria Ali
This is Ali's second year participating in WYSO Youth Radio.
Thanks to the principal of the School of Innovation in Springfield, Kathy Lee, Beth Dixon from Wellspring, and the Springfield Art Museum for their help with this story.
WYSO Youth Radio is made possible with support from the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council, and it's produced at The Eichelberger Center for Community Voices.
