After 5 years living in America Im now at the airport on way to move back home to Morocco. My experience in the US was life changing. I came with the idea that I will be living in a free country, but Im leaving with the idea that America is far from that. For 5 years I felt what it was like to be part of the Moroccan diaspora. I came to understand the pains that come with being alienated from your own people. But I also met wonderful people, especially people of color, from all over California who provided me with a sense of community. From these people I learned so many invaluable lessons that I will take back with me. I also learned about the suffering of people of color in this country, and how to connect the struggles of those small third world nations called ghettos (which can be found in the heart of large American cities) with our struggles in the third world. I thought that my education would be primarily inside the classroom, but now Im leaving with most of my education coming from outside of it. I am grateful for all the people I met here and for all the kindness and hospitality I encountered. I will miss many things, but I will also not miss many other things. I will miss my friends, mexican food and American radical activism-- but I will not miss that constant sensation of feeling like a criminal in this police state, I will not miss white privilege, I will not miss the racism, I will not miss the consumerism, I will not miss the constant feeling that I am living on some one elses land. Despite all these things I dont like about America, I do not regret coming here because of the vast amount of things I learned. For now I am going back to be a filmmaker, a journalist and to organize within my community. I am going back in order to avoid being part of that brain drain where the most educated people of third world countries leave and dont come back. Ultimately, I hope to contribute more effectively to Moroccan society. So, after years of being told well, if you dont like America, then why dont you just get out? I am finally getting out. :)
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 02:32:01 +0000
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