What do criminals look like?

Student poet Fatimata Cham shares her poem about the perception of criminals and how the U.S. justice system treats Black people.

I’ve always looked up to my father, the most selfless person I know. My father left his home in the Gambia at 15 and traveled to Côte d'Ivoire, where he built houses. When he immigrated to America in the '90s, he took a lot of those same skills and applied them to his career in carpentry and graphic design. He was very handy, teaching himself the skills he needed for his careers and watching movies to learn how to speak English. He knew that his first priority was always his family back home and what they would need.

Navigating this world as a Black man, my father has faced many challenges. When I was young, the law enforcement accused my father of harming me, violently questioning him for hours. I knew if he hadn’t been Black, they would not have treated him the way they did. Stereotypes continued when we’d go to parent-teacher conferences and my teachers couldn’t believe that my father was involved in my life and cared about my academic success, just because of the way he looked.

When I was thinking about the Black Lives Matter movement and the issues facing Black people in America, I knew I needed a lens to talk about it. Considering how America perceives crimes and treats Black people with regards to criminal justice shows how systemic these issues are. It shows how Black people cannot even do basic things without possibly losing their lives. When I started writing this poem, I was thinking about people’s perceptions and how they largely contribute to how we treat others. Often Black people are criminalized in America, and I wanted readers to really think about the question I keep repeating throughout the poem: What do criminals look like? I wanted people to think about the country we live in and if justice is truly at the center for all people. What is society’s perception of criminals and is that perception true?

“I wanted people to think about the country we live in and if justice is truly at the center for all people. What is society’s perception of criminals and is that perception true?”

— Fatimata Cham

This poem means a lot to me as a young Black Muslim woman because it encompasses a large part of my identity. My identity as a Black woman who is unapologetically herself and outspoken about the issues she cares about is something I thought about whilst writing this poem. I also thought about the case of Sandra Bland, an outspoken Black woman who lost her life in police custody after she was arrested during a traffic stop. Being a Muslim woman, I also want to debunk false narratives about Muslims, like people equating Muslims to terrorists.

At a young age I’ve always wondered because

To me

All I saw were women and men who looked like me

Melanated

With brown eyes

Golden specks

Just when the sun hit them

You see light