ISALC: ESL 411: College Prep. Reading/Writing - Spring 1998
Diversity and Civil Rights in the U.S.

Suddenly, our room became bright. Someone came into this room. "What is this person going to do?" I heard some sound. "He is undoing the chain!" Perhaps, he will take us somewhere. I am excited; however, I feel scared more than anything. I cannot imagine what will happen in my life in the future. My body became free from the wooden floor and I stood up. "Ouch!" My back is so painful as if ferocious dog is biting me with its stinging fangs. It would be due to the fact that my back was chafed by the wooden floor. Other people's backs seem to be in the same situation. Theirs were red. Anyway, it seems that we are going to go outside of the hold of the ship. We are going to be able to catch the chance to run away from here. I felt the light of my hope see a little.

"Dazzling!" When I went outside, I could not see anything. My whole sight became pure white. This time, it was so painful as if my eyes were punched with all someone's might. After a while, my eyes got better and I came to see little by little. Holy Allah!! All of a sudden, an incredible sight spread out in front of me. It would not be too much to say that here is Heaven. I thought, "Where am I? Where is the land? What a big river this is!" I had not seen such a sight before. To my surprise, our boat was surrounded by water. When I tried to see faraway, to my surprise the earth was separated into water and sky. "Is that the end of the earth?" I got curious, "Um, what happens in that place?" This time, I also recognized one thing. It would be IMPOSSIBLE to go back to my village. This sight gave me not only a joyful discovery but also a disappointing one.

When I look back at the deck, I can see that one of the crew members is drawing water from the big river. It appears he is going to wash us with it. We are really really stinking. It would be comfortable. However, when we were drenched with water, some unbelievable accident happened to me. "Gyaaaa! My back! My back is on fire!" I screamed like a wild beast who became insane because of the terrific heat. "What is this? This water is quite different from what I have known." This strange water has, moreover, other wonders. There was pain in my eyes and mouth when that water came. My eyes felt like peeled skin. Also, when I drank it, my throat became sore. After that, I felt thirsty in spite of the water. I assumed that this was the whites' work. They always use things like magic. All of us got scared. "Are we going to be able to acquire our freedom from whites?" I doubted it.

Oh! The crew members start playing music. Then, one of them, like the leader, is saying loudly, "# %&*$ @#$ %#$*!!" I cannot understand. He is showing us to hop and jump. Now, I realize that they want us to dance. "Why do I have to dance for them? Why am I always forced to do something?" and as I think about that, I get angry. In fact, however, we cannot resist them. That is, my comrades and I have to dance in front of them against our will. This dance brought an amazing result. Others seemed to get angry like me. Our mind that is held back caught fire. While we are dancing, one of us begins to say "Don't yield!" All of us follow him and say, "Don't yield! Don't yield! Don't yield!" Our voices get loud, little by little. Eventually, those become one voice. It is also time that we become one. That power which appears as if a bear tries to attack its prey makes even whites afraid. I get courage. "I am going to get freedom from WHITES!," I think. I really detest them. I will take any steps to do it, even if I will have to kill somebody. I will never even think of them as human beings.

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Created by: krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 3/14/98