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Workshop > Challenge > To all the people who hate Muslims
Mar 18
poem 8 comments
Nightheart

To all the people who hate Muslims

To all the people who hate muslims.m4a
To all the people who hate Muslims.

Do I scare you? They call it Islamophobia after all.

Do I scare you? Does my family scare you?

Let me give you a summary of us, in case you didn’t really know us all that well.

Me,
Standing at about 5 foot 2 inches,
With big, bushy, fuzzy hair
And a penchant for zoning out and
Always having graphite-stained fingers.

My sister,
10 years old, who once made
Her own little snack dispenser
Out of a cardboard box and some tape.

My father,
Who makes us pancakes in the mornings,
Who loves gardening and prides himself
On making food out of our own vegetables
In the summers.

My mother,
Who drinks more tea than seems humanly possible
who’s just finishing up her dissertation now,
And loves dancing to any song, anywhere.

Are you scared of us? Because that seems a little silly at this point, doesn’t it?

You tell everyone that you’re scared, scared that your culture is going to be gone, scared we’ll bomb you, scared that we won’t assimilate. But you know what? I don’t think you’re really scared. I think you’re angry.

Angry,
Because you have lost people
That you knew,
And for this I cannot blame you.

Angry,
Because we speak with the wisps
Of foreign places on our tongues
And you cannot love what you have
Never seen.  

Angry,
Because you hear of things that are done
And you do not understand them,
And confusion is often the source of
Hatred.

So no, I do not think you are scared. I think you are angry with people you have never met in your life, never talked to in your life, and isn’t that a bit weird. But hey, I’m not here to tell you how to live your lives, no. But just consider this.

I am scared.

I am scared when I walk down the street at night.
Whenever someone is behind me
I hold my phone to my ear 
Oh
So
Tight
And pretend
That I am talking.

I am scared whenever I see someone
Wearing a red hat.
I quickly scan the words
Feel
My
Heart
Skip
A beat when it’s not
What I’m expecting.

I am scared whenever I watch the news,
Hope that we are not forced
To identify ourselves
With
Badges
Repeating
History
My
God
What has it come to?

I’m scared.
And maybe in your minds you feel that is an accomplishment, some kind of sick, twisted sense of satisfaction will fill you when you read these words. But there shouldn't be any.
Because I am a 13 year old girl. You made a 13 year old girl scared. Do you feel accomplished?
You made my 10 year old sister be afraid. Do you feel accomplished?
You made my mother cry. Do you feel accomplished?
You made my father feel helpless. Do you feel accomplished?

I bow down to a God that you think
Is not yours and you hate.

I sing prayers in a language
That is not yours and you hate.

I fast for a month to understand
The struggle of the poor and you hate. 

It is starting to feel like I could just breathe
and you would hate, 

All because you got your information
Of Islam from old and outdated beliefs
So you hate

And yet didn't the Bible say, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Well, we are your neighbours, we are the people that run your local supermarket or dollar store, we are the people that teach you, we are the people that are your students, your friends, we are everywhere and yet you never noticed us because your version of Islam is some monster that you have built up in your mind, and hey, I'm not saying that we're perfect but neither are you. 

And there's something fundamentally wrong 
with this conversation we're having because 
I should not be asking you to not hate us. 

It is my right to live in happiness and it is my right 
to practice my religion, so don't tell me that I am a monster
for praying and loving and simply existing. 

So don't tell me that my religion is an ideology
when you say that yours isn't.

So I guess what I'm trying to say to all the people who hate Muslims, is that I don't hate you, because my religion asks this of me, because my religion asks me to be kind, to understand people. So I'm begging you most of all, please don't be angry anymore. 

Love, 
me. 

 
Audio download:
To all the people who hate muslims.m4a
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Posted: 03.18.19

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Discussion

Comments

  1. Reid
    Mar 19, 2019

    Extraordinary, Nightheart, the way you bring us in close with those beautiful personal details and show how misguided the hatred is. Thank you for sharing these insights and breaking down barriers with your words. This is important work. Keep writing, Nightheart, keep writing!

    YWP Executive Director
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  1. gg
    Mar 19, 2019

    I agree with Susan. Can you record this with a good mic? Or just record directly to the post? Would love to hear your voice behind this.

    g

    YWP founder. Current work: Instagram, Mastodon and https://geoffreygevalt.com
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  1. sophie.d
    Mar 20, 2019

    Your words exude power and love. I am inspired by your strength. Thank you for sharing.

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  1. lilnoreault
    Mar 22, 2019

    ....This hit me in the heart I listened and listened you have a way to make a story of just a few words show how you feel or how maybe anyone who doesn’t have the voice to say

    Lilly Noreault

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  1. chloen
    Mar 23, 2019

    This is earth shatteringly beautiful x the big ideas brought close and the way you hit the reader with the little personal details. Even the way you speak when you read the piece is just amazingly strong, you can hear the emotion through the words on the page :) Well done, it is beautiful

    Chloe N
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  1. PeachesMalone
    Apr 04, 2019

    This is so honest and pure and beautiful, and really hits home. I really wish every person in the world could read this. Thank you for writing this.

    Why bother being cool when you can be nice?

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  1. activist_fieldhockey
    Apr 10, 2019

    I can't explain what this meant to me. This is really nicely written, and it brings an amazing yet heartbreaking message. I'm not muslim, but I do know how it feels to be discriminated against by my school, city, country, and world. Thank you for spreading awareness and your thoughts!

    hazel green

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  1. fire girl
    Nov 20, 2019

    This is so beautiful, you make language exquisite in the most simple ways. All the love and truth behind your work brings light to darkness and turns hate into heartache!

    " to choose to write is to reject silence" - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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