By: Safa Rahman of Kendall Park, NJ
3rd place in ICNA CSJ-NJ’s BHM Essay Contest 2025
Topic: Racial Injustice and the responsibility of youth (Grades 11 & 12)
“When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise”. I remember vividly listening to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story” in Global Studies last year – it was this final sentence that left me thinking, feeling, and hoping. This would be the beginning of my love for storytelling. I’ve found storytelling to be a powerful tool for debunking, shaking, challenging, and exposing – the myths, the lies, the stereotypes, and the hate. Racial injustice is ingrained, systemic, fueled with ignorance, hate. It is in the streets when a black man is kneeled on for simply existing, it is when Indigenous people have to fight for the very land that was stolen from their ancestors, it is in the stereotypes: that minorities are not supposed to be in positions of power, have a seat at the table, and aren’t wanted to be seen thriving and becoming powerful voices. Notice how we are feared the most when we speak up – when we know our power and aren’t afraid to use it – when we march the streets, when we become class president, when we are loud, shake the table, and occupy space. And that is exactly why, as youth, it is our responsibility to find our power. For me, I have discovered, it has always been oration both written and verbal. In the same Global Studies class last year, we were tasked to present a part of African culture that contradicts the notion of a “single story”. I decided to explore African literature and came across Chimamanda’s poem, “We Died When Freedom Burned”. Reciting this poem in class, with the sunlight rays cascading through the dark room, I felt a sense of solace that I cannot quite get to justice with words. It was inspiring to see how powerful words have in making people feel, see and think in a way that they have never before. And that made me think about how literature has the power to challenge racial injustice in a way that touches deep into people’s hearts – capturing stories in its rawest form and using human emotion as a translator to bridge sympathy with the pains of others. And since then, I use literature as not simply a shield, but as a weapon against all injustice.
In Surah Nisa, verse 135, Allah (swt) obligates us to, “Stand firm for justice as witnesses for Allah even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or close relatives”. The fact that this responsibility has been prescribed upon us by our Lord reflects on the pressing necessity to prepare the next generations for the road of activism. The road is certainly not going to be easy – we will be silenced, threatened, hated, but we must always have faith in Allah (swt). To the youth, I would say to find your passion. Find your talent. Find what makes you you. Find what makes your heart shimmer, what makes your soul cascade with sunshine, what makes you fill with passion, rage, and what makes you want to leap with raw joy. Once you find it, own it – nourish it, water it, give it sunshine, and know that it will grow far more than you can ever imagine. As youth, we often are left to ponder with the question of how we can “give back” to our community. I believe we give back the greatest when we own our talent and develop the courage to use it radically.