"HOME," by Somali poet Warsan Shire no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well your neighbours running faster than you breath bloody in their throats the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body you only leave home when home won't let you stay. no one leaves home unless home chases you fire under feet hot blood in your belly it's not something you ever thought of doing until the blade burnt threats into your neck and even then you carried the anthem under your breath only tearing up your passport in an airport toilets sobbing as each mouthful of paper made it clear that you wouldn't be going back. you have to understand, that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land no one burns their palms under trains beneath carriages no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled means something more than journey. no one crawls under fences no one wants to be beaten pitied no one chooses refugee camps or strip searches where your body is left aching or prison, because prison is safer than a city of fire and one prison guard in the night is better than a truckload of men who look like your father no one could take it no one could stomach it no one skin would be tough enough the go home blacks refugees dirty immigrants asylum seekers sucking our country dry niggers with their hands out they smell strange savage messed up their country and now they want to mess ours up how do the words the dirty looks roll off your backs maybe because the blow is softer than a limb torn off or the words are more tender than fourteen men between your legs or the insults are easier to swallow than rubble than bone than your child body in pieces. i want to go home, but home is the mouth of a shark home is the barrel of the gun and no one would leave home unless home chased you to the shore unless home told you to quicken your legs leave your clothes behind crawl through the desert wade through the oceans drown save be hunger beg forget pride your survival is more important no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear saying- leave, run away from me now i dont know what i've become but i know that anywhere is safer than here.  PEOPLE ACTING AND REACTING:
The Pope is coming; the Nuns are on the bus; the migrant women are walking 100 miles from Pennsylvania to welcome the Pope and hoping that he will speak out on their rights before the U.S. Congress. Yesterday I volunteered with CAUSA, an Oregon Latino advocacy organization, at their Citizenship Workshop for people who can qualify to become U.S. citizens. During my lunch break I walked outside and saw this mural at PCUN's leadership center, the people cry out: Si Se Puede - Justice, Human Rights NOW!!!!! The human spirit will triumph over the Trumps of this world Love is stronger than hate! Always has been, always will.
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ACTS OF COMPASSION:
Yesterday, September 5, 2015 NPR interviewed a Hungarian woman who had gone to the train station to help migrants from Syria who were trying to travel to Germany, but the Hungarian government said no. "Why are you here?" the reporter asked. "My government behavior compelled me to come." I understood that woman as I too have been and am compelled to act - to show compassion and to welcome the stranger. The global migrant issue or crisis cannot be avoided. We need to address the root causes of migration - war, economic inequality, failed states and instability. One refugee in the New York Times 9/6/15) said: "I want to live in a stable country where I and my family will be safe." All European nations except Germany and Sweden are not accepting migrant refugees and we in the United States are not helping victims of war either in the Middle East or people fleeing violence and poverty in Central America. THE PEOPLE ACT IN GUATEMALA! As a long-term activist for human rights in Guatemala, I was absolutely thrilled and a little surprised that the people protests in Guatemala City and the threatened arrest of the President, Otto Perez Molina led to his resignation. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/world/americas/otto-perez-molina-guatemalan-president-resigns-amid-scandal.html?ribbon-ad-idx=4&rref=world/americas&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Americas&pgtype=article It is the Guatemalan people who spoke and marched and protested - We have had enough of corruption, human rights violations and lack of funding for education and health care. His resignation does not create immediately a new direction as today's elections are choices between candidates tied to the existing power structure. But it was significant that the business elite coalition did not defend him that opened the door for grassroots activists and middle class people to act to oust him. A GUATEMALAN WOMAN DEPORTEE: This past March I met a young woman from Guatemala who entered the United States without documents. She was apprehended and put into the private corporation operated detention center in Eloy, Arizona. I met her through a detention center visitor program sponsored through CIVIC nationally. http://www.endisolation.org/ |
AuthorMy life has been about crossing borders and cultures and building bridges across the boundaries that normally divide. Have you crossed any borders in your life? Archives
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