Throughout the year, I will be posting pieces written by students about topics regarding race, culture, gender, and sexuality. More about this is written here.
Guest post by Sara N.
Being a teenager in 2015 is a weird thing. Not only do I have to worry about high school and my future or if I am going to miss my bus but, if you haven’t noticed, our world is in a weird state. Terrible things are happening in the Middle East, the European migration crisis is still going on, ISIS is out there, and, next year, we will have a new president. With all that, my life is not as calm as t would’ve been if I were a high schooler 10 years ago.
When I was three years old, I moved to Hawaii from Bahrain, an island in the Middle East. I don’t remember much of it, but it gives me the story on how my mom left all her family with me and her new husband to the states. I think that, at 14, we are experiencing and understanding the effects of racism, sexism and other -isms out there. Right now, where I am from, there are a lot of bad people. When I say where I am from, some people automatically judge me, just like in Texas where they judged Ahmed and his clock. Even though we know that things like that are real, up until now it hasn’t really mattered much to us.
Something I experienced and want other students going through this confusing time in the world is to remember that even though someone is from some part of the world with whatever going on there, you shouldn’t look at them differently. Kind of like how some people judge me on my race because my mom is from the Middle East. Especially if you already knew them before because it’s not like *poof* they changed all of a sudden. It hurts when someone makes fun of where you’re from.
Sara N. is a 9th grader at University Laboratory School in Honolulu, Hawaii. She likes to listen to music, do algebra and go to Target.