by Ayana Edwards
"The Muslim Brotherhood took over Egypt,"
she said that to me as I was stirring my morning tea
waiting for my emails to load.
I gave her the blankest stare I could.
"Have you heard about that?"
If I told her no, she would explain it to me.
If I told her yes, she would have solicited my opinion
“No.”
"Well, the Brotherhood is infiltrating our schools.
It's all over the internet, they start clubs at public schools
and tell the kids to say it is an academic organization,
not a religious one. it says right there on their website, Jihad is our creed."
I check the calender, it is in fact 2012, not 2001
and ten years later this woman hasn't healed any wounds.
We live just ten minutes from D.C.
"It seems like this could be hard to prove,” I say.
She isn't worried, she has been drafting a report
to give to the school board
to shut down the Muslim student organizations.
I told my mother about this,
mostly annoyed and little angry,
and she said, "Well, I'm glad somebody's doing something about it."
Ayana Edwards was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area. After graduating from George Mason University with a B.A. in Anthropology, she began to devote more time to using poetry and short stories as a vehicle for self-expression and as a means of social commentary. She has published poetry in Retort Magazine and has a short story in the upcoming issue of The Squawkback.
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