Don't Define Me | Teen Ink

Don't Define Me

January 28, 2018
By ImaanC BRONZE, Dubai, Other
ImaanC BRONZE, Dubai, Other
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
“I raise up my voice-not so I can shout but so that those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” - Malala Yousafzai


Terrorist, that is the word used to define my kind
My kind are not monsters yet they’re treated as if they are beasts who want to destruct anything in their paths
My kind are Muslims, humans who are trying to live in a world affected by hate
My kind are humans yet most of them aren’t treated or looked at that way
My kind have to deal with prejudice and racism on a daily base
So ask me what my kind is and I’ll tell you
My kind are people who are judged by what they are, rather than who they are
My kind has people with hearts of gold yet they are shadowed by the darkness of hate
My kind have people who are breathing their last breaths trying to escape the people you associate us with
My kind are having to flee their countries in order to save their lives
My kind are constantly being rejected to enter into country after country because of their religion
My kind are dying in the seas trying to find a safe haven
My kind are constantly being defined by other people
My kind are constantly being labeled by other people
I’m sick of it
You don’t know who or what I am
I am not a terrorist and I am not a monster
I am a human just like you and I as well as anyone else on this Earth deserves to be treated as one
I am not going to let anyone else define or label me but myself
I am not going to allow others to talk for me
I have the most powerful weapon
I have my voice and I am done concealing it
Human is what I am yet we keep on forgetting, so I’ll remind the world
All lives matter


The author's comments:

I wrote this in April, 2016, at the age of 15, while in 9th grade. I was fed up with seeing refugees suffering, yet countries rejecting them. I was also scared because of the rising islamaphobia during the presidential campaign. I wrote this is as a way to remind myself and the world that I don't have to change for the world, the world has to change the way it see's me. 


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