Why would you ask that
What is your intention My hurt feelings Me crying and running away But, That’s not going to happen I’ve had enough Of you always assuming Always thinking I can hurt That I can explode That I’m hiding something Beneath my scarf That I’m hiding something that Can kill But I’m not But why, Why is it that when someone Dressed like me are Terrorist But someone like you are Mental Why are we considered Killers But you are considered Helpless Explain to me But you can’t Because you know I’m Right And once in your life you’re Wrong But don’t be upset Because I’m not YOU I don't want to hurt others With my words But, I help I help educate I help others to understand I help the poor So here I am Educating you Into waking up And realizing Society That you’re the only one criticizing While others are uniting WAKE UP! Habeeba Farid '22 (BHSEC Queens)
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My name is Dave
Came to America and hopped on the wave At the time I couldn’t even shave Little did I know I was digging my own grave My heartfelt like a cave My momma told me to be brave A path I must pave A life I must save (Pause) Hear my story it’s my fable Crying out I’m unstable Thinking about the time I couldn’t sit at the white kids’ table Illegal it’s my label Cream cheese on my bagel I’m so poor I need cable Living this life.. not able Mahsud Hossain '22 (BHSEC Queens) We live our lives in hiding But why? I’m not so sure We live our lives in fear Of someone walking through the door To take us far away Far away from home They’d leave us poor and stranded In a country not our own Anonymous '23 (BHSEC Queens) My mother was born in Barbados and my father in Grenada. If you don’t know where they are, these are islands in the West Indies. My mother and my grandmother came to America when she was 7 years old. They were illegal for a while but they are now both legal immigrants. My father came here in 2003 and came about 5 years after his sisters. My parents met here in the US and because of that, I am now alive. Apart from a few uncles and aunts and their children, all of my family still lives on these islands. This means that I can only see them once a year when we travel to Barbados and the very few times we travel to Grenada. Some of them also come here occasionally and we call and text often. But still, my grandma’s family lives miles away and so her only way of communication is text. Immigrating to another country means leaving your family, friends, your culture, basically your whole life behind. My parents can only talk to their parents through the phone and I know it can’t be easy. Even though they now have college degrees and financial stability which they probably couldn’t get in those countries, they still left so much behind. Everywhere I go, I am seen as African-American, but I am more than that. I am Grenadian, Bajan, and American all wrapped into one. However, I have little to no connection with those places.
Coming to a new country, especially as a child can lead to losing touch with your culture. My mom, coming here so young, no longer speaks like a Bajan so going back can be very awkward. On documents, you are born in one place, but in reality, you have little to no bond with that place. I also feel kind of strange in Barbados because when I am there, I look like everyone else, but I don’t sound like them and I usually can’t understand what they are saying. Being a first-generation America can be confusing because when people ask you where you are from, what do you say? Your immediate family isn’t from here but you were born and raised here. You feel like you are from where your parents come from, but what can you really say about that place that you’ve never been to or rarely visit. Though I am not an immigrant I know a lot of legal and illegal immigrants. There is an 18-year-old boy in my church who is in college. He is from Guyana and is on a student visa which means he might have to go back once he is finished with college. He is friends with a lot of the teenagers at my church, mainly because he’s really funny. But if he leaves, it will be like he disappeared. There are a lot of immigrants, both legal and illegal at my church. They came during different times of their lives, for different reasons, and with different people. But they all have one thing in common: they are here. Many of them are older so deportation is not really an option, mainly for medical reasons such as surgery or continued healthcare. Immigrants are all around us. Some may be very open and happy but could be living in fear of being deported every single day. Think about that... Anonymous '23 (BHSEC Queens) |
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