Olga Friaz Borbon
COMP-Pomona student
We grew up as children shoved in ESL classes, forced to suppress our mother tongue and to learn the English language.
Maybe now they will hear us.
We were the first in our families to attend university. We learned their words. We were talked down to and belittled, then bestowed their degrees.
Maybe now they will hear us.
We returned to our communities and witnessed the blatant inequity and despair. We taught others how to navigate systems that were not made for them and translated words they were never meant to hear.
Maybe now they will hear us.
We’ve begun our medical journeys, joining a profession entangled in racist history and doing our best to suppress the imposter syndrome behind us at every step.
Maybe now they will hear us.
We’ve had to study bones and muscles as black bodies are murdered in the streets and as immigrants take their last breaths in detention facilities.
We did well on our exams, though.
Maybe now they will hear us.
We’ve had to advocate for ourselves and our future patients and hope that our efforts are enough to prevent further deaths in our communities due to implicit bias.
Maybe now they will hear us.
We’re exhausted.
We’re exhausted.
We’re exhausted.
Now we will make them hear us.