Papier ou plastique

Illustration by Beyza.

To the French cashier who lost his patience with me after I stuttered 3 times asking him if I can have a bag:

I am not giving you back your language. 

I am not giving you back the 20 seconds it took me to translate myself. 

You took 132 years from my ancestors, so I take your language, add arabic words until you can’t  turn a single street corner in this city without hearing “wesh”, “hagra”, and “za3ma”, mumbled by a 15-year-old in sweats from Paris.

I will not give you back your language when our literature, our history, our dissent is written in it, it is part of your reparations to us.

I know my veil speaks before I do, telling who I am and where I have been, but you will hold your assumptions on the languages I claim. 

You will listen to me as I stutter, you will wait patiently while I find my words, and you will ask ‘papier ou plastique?’ ◆

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Houda Kerkadi is an Algerian writer living in Montreal. She is a graduate from Concordia University and her work explores primarily politics and cultural phenomena. As a dedicated community worker for the past five years, she is equally passionate about social equity as well as language and education accessibility. Find Houda on Instagram.