American Muslim chilren
Hey Ayat, we were an odd
couple, haunting the library
for magical books,
deciding how and where
we wanted to work…
Our symbiosis
Your linguistic ticket to
4th grade status—
and my meal ticket
Hey Aayat, forget that
you worked hard
raising your reading
from 1.4
to 4.
Forget how
You sweated in your
Hijab,Cali sun streaming
through the hallway where we worked
Your seat wet with sweat
when I insisted you break for water.
Forget how my eyes welled up when…
When you read the word “chlorophyll”
with
a li’l Arabic seasoning.
Forget our enchanted
moment, our turning point,
finding a book
on your birthplace, your
religion
Hey Ayat, I apologize—
It’s America first and
American Heroes must
Kill
Kids like you in Yemen—
But, “God will sort it out…”
When they get to Heaven.
And one day you’ll understand
Why
American heroes kill for pipe-
lines…
© 2016. Raymond Nat Turner,The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed performing artist and educator, and an official in the National Writers Union.
Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com
The U.S. is committed to invading Haiti but needs Black “leaders” to give them cover.
The enemies of affirmative action programs are not just slick conservatives and vulgar racists, but also greasy liberals, argues Gerald Horne. And their efforts to dismantle such programs began as…
Haitians protest oligarchic rule, UN occupation, and foreign military "intervention."
All of Haiti's ills stem from interventions, invasions and interference in its affairs. The new call for a US/UN/CARICOM invasion is part of a long running plan to undermine the sovereignty of the…
This week’s featured scholar is Ampson Hagan. Hagan is Dean's Research Associate Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University. His article is “Coloniality of…
