Imagine you express an opinion. 
Imagine you speak against an injustice.
Imagine you are snatched from your home while your parents look-on hopelessly.
Imagine them going everyday to various establishments acquiring about your whereabouts to no avail.

I am not here to entertain the mass
I aim to comfort  the few

Their screams are silent
Their thoughts are violent
Check your ear
See why you can't hear

Like every time my brain itched
I picked a pen to scratch it
Vying to win this round
Even though it is not a contest

Let us straighten our house
Let us stop this hurricane
No cat and mouse
No child leaning on a cane.

I am breathing again

After suffocating by anything defining you

It's been a long time,

That you’ve been getting away with the crime

It had to end!!

It is no surprise that the Moroccan community in the US, like any other community, discusses and talks about Morocco and its issues at many levels. At times, it seems that people shy away from criticizing any aspect of Morocco for fear of being labeled as a non-patriot or what have you.

When we criticize a certain aspect of Morocco, our land, or Moroccans, ourselves, it is not because we are bitter, or pessimistic, or we don’t care, on the contrary.

Most of us are doing well and could go on living just fine, but we don’t. There is something inside of us that aches our hearts when we hear something negative about Morocco or Moroccans, and that fills it with pride and joy when we hear of good news from/about the motherland.

September 29th 1994, Hasni Chakroune  aka Cheb Hasni was assassinated at the age of 26; 13 years since!!

 May He Rest in Peace!

Someone like Hasni should not be forgotten.  His singing was great. Its effect and implication on society were greater.

This is the person who always talked about the poor in his interviews and called on everyone to always be kind, generous,

and helpful to them.  This is the person who connected with the unprivileged and the average; More importantly, the youth and their issues. 

As a teenager, one goes through quite a bit of emotions and is lost and clueless as to how to deal with crushes and the opposite sex as

the realization and the discovery that a real difference exists settles now.

Is it because it is an Iraqi matter ultimately and I am not affording myself the right to react in anyway?  Is it that I am still in a state of shock over how it was handled and therefore I am not ready to try and make sense of it? Is it because this matter is so divisive and emotional it is best left alone? It is in everybody’s mind but rarely anyone brings it up in casual conversation as they do other events.