Amal Kassir says she knows she’s lucky. Born of an American mother and Syrian father, she was raised in Denver, but lived for many years in Syria. She says her time in Syria helped her understand the suffering of the people there — especially the rural farmers and children — while the freedoms she has living in the U.S. has allowed her to become an activist on their behalf.
“Syria is my home, I know what it is. But America gave me the ability to see things that I would not have otherwise been able to see in Syria, and I am a voice of the revolution, because the United States gave me a stage and gave me the opportunity.”
Now an 18-year-old college student in Denver, Kassir attends classes and works at her father’s Syrian restaurant, Damascus Grill, in Littleton, Colo., during the week. On the weekends, she tours the United States, performing her slam poetry at festivals and political rallies. Her poetry often blends images of simple family pleasures in Syria with the contrasting harsh treatment of government soldiers, as in “My Grandmother’s Farm,” a work she performed recently on the campus of the University of Colorado Denver.
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