go back to where you came from, this is America

By Aleisha Flores, FINDink Contributor

i remember being around 8 or 10 years old

at shoprite’s infamous can-can sale

with my family

swimming through the sea of customers

to get our hands on the non-perishables

being sold for 20 cents apiece

when some white kid goes up

to my dad, looks him dead in the eye

and goes, “you’re dark. go back to where you came from,

this is America.”

i never wanted to fight someone so bad in my life

with my tiny fists and tiny feet

kicking and punching him so hard

that maybe it’d take him back to wherever it was

HE came from

but i didn’t fight him

i just stood there and watched

and when he walked away i asked my dad,

“what was that about?”

he just shook his head and said, “i don’t know.”

a decade later

and thinking about that day still gets me angry

my parents didn’t risk it all coming to this country

just for some white kid to tell them to go back

to their own

during a frenzy for some

canned goods

Disclaimer: The views of the author do not necessarily represent the views of FIND, Inc.