Sahar Fathi

Growing up Different

When I was in third grade

And fourth grade

And fifth grade

I won schoolwide awards

(for math)

And the principal

Never got my name right.

Shafar Fatty.

When I was in 7th grade

A kid sneered at me

Tapped his forehead

And said loudly in class

Where’s your red dot?

Aren’t you related

To Saddam?

When I began college

And 9/11 happened

No one sat next to me

That day.

The school sent an email

If you’re Muslim

Walk with a buddy.

So when I hear about

“Kill a Muslim Day”

Hate crimes

Up exponentially

And that Muslim kids

Are packing their things

Late at night

Waiting for them

To come for us

I am surprised

That I am not surprised

Did you learn from your past,

America?

I sure did.

Holding down your people

In all kinds of cells.

Prisons and camps and reservations

Power structures and isms.

The weak,

The huddled masses.

Sahar has worked on immigrant and refugee issues for 15 years, both internationally and nationally. Sahar graduated from the University of Washington Law School and is a member of the New York bar. She also earned a Masters in International Studies from the University of Washington, and graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California with a dual Bachelor of Arts in French and International Relations. Additionally, Sahar attended the Sorbonne Université in Paris, France from 2003-2004 and received a diploma in International and European Law from the Université Jean-Moulin in Lyon, France in 2008. She has served as adjunct faculty at both Seattle University and the University of Washington School of Law. Sahar is a past president and co-founder of the Middle Eastern Legal Association of Washington, as well as the founder of its Legal Clinic – the first Middle Eastern Legal Clinic in the country. She is a past board member for the ACLU, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and the UNA – USA. She is a current board member for One America Votes. She has been published in the Seattle Journal for Social Justice, the Seattle Journal of Environmental Law, and the Gonzaga Law Review. Her poetry has been printed in Writers Resist and the Writers Resist: Anthology (2018). It has also been featured in the Feelings journal and Not Your Mother's Breastmilk. Her favorite Persian dish is Fesenjoon, and in 2016 she finally mastered her Tadiq technique.