Shaima Alawadi could have been my mother
a Hijab-wearing, Muslim covered mother
an Arab mother of 5
was she brown
was she brown enough for
her ‘terrorist’ features to explode fear
in her white-neighbors eyes
of colorful racism filling hate
in brutality to beat
a women so dangerous
her headscarf
her identity
her being
her Muslim-ness
posed a threat
a reason to despise
a reason to violate
a reason to take life
a reason to terrorize
a reason to murder
…
Shaima Alawadi could have been my mother
a mother of five
found helpless by fatima
fatima
fatima
17 years are not enough to give
strength to a witnessed murder
of an Iraqi mother
joining millions of Iraqi dead
children
also dead
killed
murdered
because life wasn’t granted to them
because their brown skin screamed
“terrorism” for American soldiers
high in the skies
as drone attacks fell down
on souls
too cheap to count
to name
now Shaima
the mother of five
Shaima
is gone
left to witness
as anger fills the hearts
of motherless children
left to witness
in heavens arms as
justice carries along
unaccounting the worthiness of
life
her life
because justice
speaks in white clarity
often becoming obscured
with brown skin, hijab-wearing, terrorist-bearing mothers ..
because justice awaits
to be served …
Shaima you could have been my mother!
may you rest in peace …
(via Shaima Alawadi could have been my mother « A Shift Towards Conscious Activism)
