"And if we don't fight
if we don't resist
if we don't organize and unify and
get the power to control our own lives."
Cortez is making it clear that you have to stand up for yourself no matter what. You can't sit back and just let people or anything else take advantage of you and put you down. You control your thoughts and actions and you need to be the one in charge of your life.
"Then we will wear
the exaggerated look of captivity
the stylized look of submission
the bizarre look of suicide
the dehumanized look of fear
and the decomposed look of repression
forever and ever and ever
And there it is "
In the last part of her poem Cortez is saying what will happen if you don't take charge, if you sit back in fear and uncertainty. Our faces will show the outcome when we don't try. Our expressions will be signs of "captivity", "submission", "suicide", "fear" and "repression". Meaning that we will not be our true selves we will be belittled versions of who we once were. For once you are down and beaten it is hard to get back up and fight.
