How Dare The Sun Rise

How Dare The Sun Rise

YA/adult
"The smoke began to choke me, and I needed to run. I managed to
crash my way through the burning debris of the tent. I emerged in the
decimated camp, standing for a moment froze. Limbs, bones, and bloody
bodies lay everywhere. I smelled burning flesh. I saw men with guns,
machetes, torches. They were marching around the camp, looking for
survivors to kill. They slashed my people with their machetes. They
set my people on fire. They shot my people in the head..."
Sandra Uwiringiyimana, author of How Dare The Sun Rise, was only
ten when she experienced that man made version of Hell on Earth. She
wandered through the night, fearful for her family. When she was
reunited with surviving family members, several were badly injured and
her beloved little sister was dead and thrown into an unmarked mass
grave.
A distant relative took the family in. Their hosts didn't know
how to talk to people who had gone through such horrific experiences.
Sandra often woke up in the night shaking and crying. She had lost
the ability to feel safe.
Emigrating to America carried its own challenges: the cold
weather, the strange foods, and the fearfulness of the neighbors. And
then there was American middle school which was nothing like schools
in Africa. You must read the book to learn about all the family
endured and overcame.
Sandra suffered on the inside but never let her family see her
pain. In the culture she was born into parents and children didn't
share their challenges and struggles. They did not even have the
words to do so.
If there was a book I want the people who think people come to
America to get welfare benefits or ruin our way of life to read, it is
How Dare The Sun Rise. How can we turn people away who have survived
events no sentient being should have to experience? How can we betray
the promise of the Statue of Liberty?
On a personal note, tomorrow we will commemorate the life of Martin
Luther King Jr. While we celebrate his achievements, we must never
lost sight of how very far we have to go to realize his dream. We
can't just wait for someone else to do the work. My opinion piece on
white privilege that appeared in the Bangor Daily News earlier this
month was one of the things I could do. What can you do?
A great big shout goes out to all who hunger and thirst and fight for
justice.
jules hathaway


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