Somewhere in America
Silence Is Complicity in the New Attics of America
somewhere in america
a young hispanic girl hides in a back room
writing her story in a diary
her words:
terrible things are happening
families torn apart by masked men
parents vanish while children
come home to empty rooms
hate hangs in the air
you can taste it in the silence
you can feel it in the stares
it seeps through cracks
like smoke
choking the walls she hides behind
this is not history
this is not anne frank’s attic
this is today
her pencil shakes
but keeps moving
because silence is death
and words are survival
every page she writes
asks one question
will you stay silent again?
Updated on October 19, 2025, with this beautiful reading by Lindsay Ruiz, EdD