DEAR GOD. DEAR BONES. DEAR YELLOW. by Noor Hindi

Author:Noor Hindi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Haymarket Books

USCIS Trip #2: Violation

I stand in front of my grandmother. We are here so she can be interviewed by an immigration officer. First, police scanners and metal detectors.

TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR ID ON HAND

NO BELTS, PHONES, JACKETS

I wonder why the officers are always yelling. One of the officers wants to check my hair, has flagged me for “additional screening.” I have to stand with my hands up as he waves a scanner around my body.

When I turn around, my grandmother is not wearing her headscarf. I’m not used to seeing her golden-brown hair in public. I give her a questioning look as she waits for her black headscarf to move through the security monitor.

When I ask her what happened, she won’t look at me. Keeps whispering, شلحونئ,شلحونئ“ ”—they stripped me, they stripped me. She hurries her scarf around her head. Tells me an officer demanded she take it off, twice.

I want my rage to elicit love and more love. I want people to stop asking if I love this country. No. Ask if it loves me. On the way home that day, it is autumn and the leaves are beautiful and dying. My grandmother watches the trees through the passenger window.

I want her to want more from America.?

شلحونئ

شلحونئ

شلحونئ

The words pound in my head. My anger, a sound I turn down like a bad song no one wants to listen to.

She asks me to look at the trees. I tell her I am looking.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.