Eleventh Transmission: "April 3, 2018" by Amy Ely

April 3, 2018

We couldn’t go to school today, Faduma says.

Why is that? I ask.

They threatened to pull the hijabs from our heads,
to throw acid in our faces.

Who is ‘they’? I am alarmed.

Faduma glances at the cross hanging from my neck
and answers, Christians on the internet
they call it “Punish a Muslim Day.”

They assigned points to acts of violence
making dehumanization a game.

This sick plan
seduces self-righteous lonely white men
into violence toward
an already downtrodden people.

Punish them, it whispers, they are not worthy
its forked tongue tickles their fancy.

Even though the threat was sent in the UK
it succeeded in rippling world-wide.

These acts of hate cost
a day of education
a trust in humanity
and any sense of security

as if there needed to be a specific day
to make a marginalized group feel smaller.

Biography
Amy Ely: I am currently writing a chapbook that aims to bear witness to
the experience of being an East African Refugee in City Heights, San
Diego. I aim to counter the Islamophobia, racism and sexism that
constantly weighs on refugee children's childhoods. I have worked as a
tutor to the kids at the East African Cultural Center for three years and
wish to encourage them to write as well. You can find my poetry, fiction,
and non-fiction in the Driftwood.

Eleventh Transmission - eleventhtransmission.com

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