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 Constitutional Council nullified a presidential decree and a law passed by parliament postponing the February 25 elections. The chief election body has ordered that elections be held “as soon as…
This week we hear about the implications of the anti-imperialist struggle in the African nation Guinea-Bissau.
Abayomi Azikiwe joins us to discuss events in eastern Congo, the role of US backed nations such as Rwanda, and the history of exploitation and imperial control which caused the…
Aly Wane of the Immigrant Justice Network discusses immigration in the second part of a two-part interview. Punitive immigration policies are bipartisan, with groups such as Haitians being targeted…
Rafiki Morris joins us from Washington D.C. to discuss the upcoming demonstration, “Open the Peoples National Assembly in Guinea-Bissau” and why this action is so important.
