I swear I had nothing to do with 9/11.

 

People ask me “what I am”

and I laugh and say I am a diffusion

But I make sure to start with my European lineage

then quietly whisper that my fathers Egyptian

“oh” they say

“so, like, you’re kinda African”.

 

“So does that mean you're a christian

or do you follow islam

or are you a hybrid

I was just interested”

I say I’m a Muslim and their eyes take me in

I can feel the shift

everything is different

I want to plead that i am the same me I was 5 seconds ago

the same girl who helped you with trig

and laughed at your jokes even when they weren’t funny.

But I already lost them--

what If i say

I swear I had nothing to do with 9/11.

 

You say you are liberal and radical

and American in and out

and yet you unconsciously ostracize

and in you mind you criticize

I can see you inching away.

 

“so then, why don't you wear the hijab?” they ask

“are you kinda agnostic?”

no, I reply, it's simply interpretational

 

“but you don't look it”

as if a belief holds an appearance

as if the thoughts you think can reflect an image

as if beliefs have faces

and white means one things

and tan another

as if

I thought that this was so 100 years ago

 

Inequalities do not end and are not destroyed

Just like energy

They are merely transformed from one form to another as history repeats.

 

The radical image you have in your head represents that one percent .

I am not any more subjected to a patriarch as you and no - women are not viewed as a sin

We make ourselves and break ourselves and I am just as damaged as you .

 

And a special thanks to the news and misinformed journalists who take an innocent Muslim praying to a group in a foreign language with a caption contrary to his purpose --

"they're at it again"

furnacing ignorance

to those who don't understand

the bold print means more to them

than finding the truth.

How dare you misrepresent me in your deformed sceneries

Racist interpretations and hate crimes left and right-- my dad tells me to lie

“Don't tell them that you're Muslim because they don't need to know”

But I know he fears that someone will do to me what they do to those who are open.

 

I swear I had nothing to do with 9/11

So do not stigmatize every form of life that identifies with a simple religion

Do not misrepresent our women and our men with captions that don't speak the truth.

Do not pity our women and save them from their threatening orient ways with your white heroism.

I am a human being that is what I am and I know that answer will not satisfy your curious minds but it's all that you're going to get.

So you're just going to have to live with it.