I present to you, the story of The United States of America.

There is nothing but darkness.

Night, black. Hoodie, black. Skin, black.

You’re walking by yourself. The night is quiet. The only thing you can hear is your heartbeat. When all of a sudden you hear a loud curt voice, “Excuse me sir? Where are you headed” Your heart rate picks up as a hundred images flash through your mind.

You take a deep breath.

Philando Castle, Delrawn Small, Alton Sterling. You remember the fear you felt when you watched the news. You remember looking at your wife the night that Alton Sterling was shot. Because you know that you share the same skin. You know that just like that bullet has gone through all of those before you it can easily. go. through. you. You are one shot from becoming a hashtag.

You take a deep breath.

You remember your mother and how she cried the last time she saw you. She said, baby don’t get hurt. Baby don’t be stupid, don’t be out late. I fear that the knife that has been knawing at the necks of our people from the time that our bloody, chained feet were forced to walk this land will take you away. I fear that they will take you away and I will have to open the door to police officers who will tell me that my child is gone. I fear I will have to wake up in a world where your heart's not beating alongside mine. I tried to protect you from getting the scars that have become so entrenched into the depths of my body the depths of my soul. But I have no protection to give you my love be safe.

You remember your mother’s words.

You take a deep breath.

You remember your baby, your wife, your mother, and your family. You say goodbye.

You take a deep breath.

Night, black. Hoodie, black. Skin, black.

You are burning in the melting pot.

The story of a black man in America.

There is nothing but darkness.

You are walking through the halls of your school. The president’s words are ringing in your mind, “We are at war with Islam.” You’re scarf. The crown that used to sit on your head has now turned into the noose around your neck. The piece of cloth that makes you different. The piece of cloth that makes you an outsider. The piece of cloth that makes you a terrorist.

You hear a yell from across the room, “Hey you terrorist! Why do you have a towel on your head” Your heart begins to throb in your throat as an intense anxiety fills your mind. The words that you’ve articulated in your mind they can’t come out. Your voice is clogged. You try to hide the shake in your voice, the sweat in your palms, and the voice in your mind telling you that everyone around is right. You are not welcome here. This is not your land. And that you can not be seen as anything except a terrorist. You will never be able to change people’s views of me so why try.

The tears start to formulate in your eyes. These tears. These tears are so familiar to you. Sometimes it feels as if they’ve been with you since the day you were born. It feels like every hour of every day is a battle. You are constantly defending your religion, your people, your culture and your practices. So the words that you have practiced in the mirror. The words you have had to say your entire life, these words of defense, words of apology for crimes you didn’t commit. These words can’t come out. All that comes out are tears, like never ending waterfalls.

You are burning in the melting pot.

The story of a Muslim in America.

There is nothing but darkness.

You see the statue of liberty. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Your eyes twinkled with love and delight the first time you saw these words but now they just seem like lies.

You came here legally to help your family. No, not to help your family, to save your family. Without your support there wouldn’t have been food. There was nowhere to go. There were no jobs. There was nothing for you back in your old country. For the past twenty years this great land of “freedom” is the only thing you have known. You held on tight to the American dream with every tendon in your body hoping, praying, wishing that your dream would become a reality.

Every time you came into contact with the authorities, you were calm, you were kind you knew exactly how to act. Your heart would be beating out of your chest but you knew you were safe. You had a work permit, you had no crimes on your record, you were hardworking.

But now you hear stories, so many people have been detained. Had their rights violated on so many levels. So even though you have every legal right to be here their is an intense fear. That the authorities will find you and without just cause without sound reasoning you will be jailed and turn into a news headline just like those before you.

And one day your fear came true. You were stopped, and thrown in jail without just cause. You were deported, taken away from your wife and your children and everything you hold dear. Ahh the American dream. That dream that you built for yourself after such intense labor. After, coming home with back aches, bloody and ripped up hands, and tears in your eyes from a long hard day. Ahh, that dream, it seems so far now.

You are burning in the melting pot.

The story of an immigrant in America.

We are all burning in the melting pot.

There is nothing but darkness. The type of darkness that grabs you by the soul and shakes you to the boots. The type of darkness that causes a chill to go down your spine. But perhaps, perhaps this darkness is not how it seems.

Instead of the darkness of the tomb, perhaps it is the darkness of the womb.

Perhaps, there is an America still patiently waiting to be born. An America in which, every citizen stands up for the rights of their brothers regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or any other distinction that could tear us from each other. We all must stand up for each other because if we do not stand for our brothers and sisters in humanity, then who will stand up for us?

If tolerance of injustice anywhere is truly a threat to justice is everywhere then silence must be the gravest of sins. If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, then you have chosen the side of the oppressor. Silence is implicit approval. Even if an issue is not affecting you personally, it is affecting your brothers and sisters in humanity, so you must care. You must care because we are all human.

I will fight. We will fight. We will always fight for equality, for the justice that is so needed in our country. We will fight so perhaps one day there can be truth in the statement of our constitution. That all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

I present to you the story of the United States of America.