{"id":586,"date":"2022-09-22T15:55:48","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T19:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pensivejournal.com\/?p=586"},"modified":"2022-09-22T15:55:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T19:55:48","slug":"for-graduating-student-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pensivejournal.com\/poetry\/for-graduating-student-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"For Graduating Student Activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

These words are for my people who graduate with college degrees
\nbut know that their work is not over yet and never will be.
\nWe\u2019re the people who remember our responsibility
\nas the ones who fight for justice, for freedom, for mercy.
\nAs students we spent our time
\nsearching for opportunities
\nto fulfill the obligation we have to learn,
\nthe obligation we recall every moment we stretched out our hands
\nhoping, trying, keyboard keys clacking, minds wracking, and we prayed…
\n\u201cIncrease me in knowledge,\u201d1<\/a><\/sup>
\nknowledge of benefit to us and to our communities
\nin our lives, our joys and our cries,
\nour constant search for unity.
\nUnity, but not conformity.
\nToday, we are graduates,
\nand we have each struggled in our own individual ways
\nas we searched for our voices, our spaces, our purpose
\nthrough the blinding haze
\nof homogeneity, of rampant institutional injustice in society
\nand small and large acts of violence
\nthat begin and end with suppressing silence,
\neven when we tried to shout out in protest.
\nYes we have struggled.
\nWe have many wars already fought.
\nWe wrestled within ourselves and wrestled others without.
\nAnd we made it this far, tired but
\nWe\u2019re not finished.
\nTomorrow we wake up and start working
\nsearching, learning, fighting, righting
\nthe mistakes we see around us
\nkeeping in mind the giants who came before us
\nand passed us the torch,
\nThe message that lights our way forward toward
\nour final destination,
\nour ultimate goal.
\nAnd we remember while others have moved mountains before,
\nwe are the ones we have been waiting for.
\nSo we have let go, our hands and our minds, of the textbooks,
\nthe rules, whether cultural or grammatical,
\nthe institutions, the targeted silencing and grooming,
\nour inquisition redirected to problems and solutions
\noutside our classrooms
\nthat we are leaving behind us today.
\nTomorrow, as activists and writers we rise
\nto speak truth to power
\nEven, even as our voices shake,
\neven as we struggle to fake being bold
\neven and as we choke
\non the fear we swallow back.
\nWe, as innovators and dreamers
\nwe stand together in strength and our efforts combined,
\nwe remember our liberation is always intertwined.
\nWe aim to be what we claim to be:
\n\u201cA mercy to humanity.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup>
\nAnd as speakers, artists, and teachers
\nwe remain in play
\nknowing our success up till now came from the Merciful, the Just
\nknowing we owe gratitude for blessings as frequent as the specks of dust
\nthat are scattered by the winds,
\nthose little things we fail to see at times but are always there.
\nAnd when blessing becomes too hard to see,
\nAs exhaustion overtakes us
\nwhen the people we trusted becomes the ones who thrust us
\ninto the crowds of naysayers who tell us
\nWe’re wrong…
\nWe flee to the safety, the space, the security
\nwe only find among each other,
\namong the changemakers and leaders,
\nthe believers
\nand we open our arms to each other with the promise we hold tight:
\n\u201cWhat is to come is better for you than what has gone by.\u201d3<\/a><\/sup>
\nand we remember:
\n\u201cWith every hardship comes ease. Indeed, with every hardship comes ease.\u201d4<\/a><\/sup>
\nSo we carry on together,
\nAs fighters, entrepreneurs, and creators.
\nWe are the strivers
\naiming to enjoin in good, to forbid evil, to establish justice.5<\/a><\/sup>
\nWe know our duty extends beyond schooling.
\nWe look to the future.
\nWe look to a day when we will hear and see
\nnothing but greetings of peace,
\nSalamun alaykum bima sabartum, “Peace be upon you for all you have persevered with,\u201d6<\/a><\/sup>
\nBeen patient with,
\nas you raised your fists to the sky in humility,
\nIn the name of God\u2019s justice and mercy.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
    \n
  1. Quran, Taha: 114. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Quran, Anbiyaa (The Prophets): 107. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Quran, Duha (The Morning Hours): 4. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Quran, As-Sharh (The Relief):5-6. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  5. This concept is often repeated in the Quran as a duty on believers. One such example can be found in Al-Imran (Family of Imran): 104. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Quran, Ra\u2019ad (The Thunder): 24. ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    These words are for my people who graduate with college degrees but know that their work is not over yet and never will be. We\u2019re the people who remember our responsibility as the ones who fight for justice, for freedom, for mercy. 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