"The White Man's Burden" by Rudyard Kipling – Elie Weinstein 10A

You white men have ruined my life–all of our lives! Only g-d knows where my father is, or if he’s even alive after you took him away from us in shackles! And how dare you call our kind half-devils? How are we demonic in any way possible? Was it not you who savagely slaughtered our tribe’s men, stabbed us with those machines that spit pointed pieces of metal, took the stronger men on ships were we will never see them again, and used our food and resources? This is utterly ridiculous. Go away, leave us be. Go back where you came from, never to walk our land again! And to remind, we are certainly not burdens, and if you folk are so wound up in your religion, then how can you justify all of the terror and massacre you have caused. You are all nothing but barbarians. Why take what is ours when you have more? I fear that the effects that your kind have had on our minds, our bodies, and our home will have o dreadful, infinite impact on us all.