Breaking Walls artists share their passionate insights on the Writing Prompt
HEAR MY WORDS AND UNDERSTAND WHO I AM.
Tangier artist, Imane:
Hear my words and understand who I am . . .
To be a being in a community who doesn’t believe in talent,
doesn’t support its future generations.
To be a being in a community where justice is just a dream.
Where freedom is just a word but nothing you can feel.
It makes you feel a stranger in your home,
a dreamer in a land dry of hope.
Every day, you wake up to do the same routine,
and try to stay strong and alive a front all the problems that you face,
a front for every negative word that you hear from people when you say what you are dreaming or thinking outside of their circle.
Despite all of that, you have your faith in yourself,
you try to make the change in your surroundings starting from you,
all the way through your life.
Fighting every single day to achieve what you want because only you know who you are and what you deserve. Only you understand the being you are.
Barcelona artist, Oriol
Hear my words and understand who I am.
I am a young hopeful artist who still thinks we have a chance. A chance to make things right. To leave apart all our differences and start a brand new world with a bright future for ourselves, our children. For their children.
There are still people crying alone on the streets because they can’t be loyal to their truth. Why? I don’t know. You tell me.
What is it that makes you so uncomfortable? Is it just because they are happy?
Or is it the fact that they are gay, black, overweight, Muslim, Jewish or even women? Stop judging people for their appearances, labels and start seeing them as the beautiful humans that they are.
In fact, you should help them.
You should help them realize that they are not alone. That they can be themselves and you should help them reach happiness, that the society has been hiding from them so they don’t get it. So I don’t get it.
Wasn’t all this supposed to be about love? I
was promised that this world would get better, that there would be a better future. But, instead of that, we are starting new wars and blaming each other for our own mistakes. I am done playing this game. I won’t be another puppet of the unfairness.
That is why I am calling you on behalf of justice. Help me spread equality all over the world because I still think we have a chance. I count on you.
With love,
A hopeful young artist
Brooklyn artist, Andre:
Hear me out, because I’m not going to repeat myself!
You told us how to “behave” in front of people; you said “boys wear blue and girls wear pink”; that girls should sit properly and they need to dress in a certain way otherwise they will catch unwanted attention, not to mention the stupid idea of woman staying home, cooking and taking care of the kids. Also, “Boys don’t play with dolls, that’s only girls things”; that a man doesn’t cry because they are the head of a household, which is another nonsense. Divorce isn’t an option in this hypocrite world, forcing women to stay in abusive relationships, putting into their heads and hearts that “it’s god’s purpose”. To be with a monster until the end? BULLSHIT!
You taught us how to put our hands on top of a book and swear to say the truth, while you have the fingers of your other hand crossed behind your back. A book full of old thoughts and guidance, saying we should follow it otherwise we go to hell. Even though, you tell us, most of the things in this book we don’t even practice anymore because it is “too old”, then how come the rest of it, like “homosexuals go to hell” or “abortion is a sin” is not in the same category? You said men were made out of clay but how can you use biology to explain that “men were born to be men and will die men”? That’s just transphobia, but you use your religion as camouflage for your ignorance. Also, you said bullying is not violence is just “building a person’s character” until someone that suffered from this is responsible for a mass shooting in a school, then it is bullying!
You taught us to never waste food because “there’s someone starving somewhere in Africa”, but tell me when was the last time you gave food to a homeless? Instead, you keep calling them names and saying they should get a job. You said we should love our bodies and curves, that “our body is a work of art”, at the same time you show us skinny models and fitness people on tv. Told us to recycle and take shower in five minutes, but no one is actually talking about the oil in the seas, killing hundreds of thousands of animals; no one is questioning hunters that kill only for fun, for sport; no one wants to slow down their meat consumption because “what about proteins?”, but what about the animals that suffer? What about the environment? To maintain all that, between five to twenty thousand liters of water are needed to produce only 1kg of meat, not mentioning the mistreatment of the animals. You said that climate change isn’t happening, but tell that for those who are suffering from the consequences: wildfires, lack of water and food because of a long dry season, and so much more and on and on and on.
You carved so many imperfections in our minds and now claim there’s something wrong with us! That we need psychiatrists to “fix our heads”? That we are a “sick generation”? Let me tell you something, every sickness has a starting point, a patient number one, and guess who that is?
Now, look around you. Have you noticed that we, the youths, are speaking louder? Have you noticed the changes we’re making? Or are you too busy to listen to a word that we have to say?…
Wait, what?
You weren’t paying attention?
Did I stutter when I started my speech?
Well, I will not repeat myself.
I am too busy transforming our world with the truth!
