by Susanlyn

by Susanlyn - June 2020 Scholarship Essay

To think that we are alone is a false idea. It’s a structure that must be broken in order to truly experience life in its purest form. My name is Susanlyn Singroy and this is my story. I used to be under the impression that there is only rage in the world, that there were injustices in the world and that no one actually cared. The empathy that was shown was just a show we put on to appear like we noticed the pain inflicted on our brothers and sisters. What I saw was American people building barriers, confining themselves in their own cultures and disrespecting others.
I knew that there were people working in their favor but it wasn’t enough. I needed to be one of them. I needed to not look away. I needed to use my voice for the fear of losing it was haunting me. I needed to know that the story of the marginalized and incriminated, the victimized, the just and even the unjust was going to be heard one way or another. I wanted to be a storyteller and to tell the stories that were forgotten, the ones that were too ugly to look at.
There I was a young American girl with a confused identity, because I was born in America but my roots were in Guyana, India, Pakistan, and Africa, always answering “I don’t know,” when asked what I was. I ate too many school lunches that I didn’t know what to call because all I really knew was curry and dahl. I rejected this part of myself and claimed to be something I wasn’t but I didn’t realize that it was all apart of my story. I didn’t see that the pain of being different could be presented as relief for another. So, the moment I accepted that I was a Guyanese American girl who was the last of seven kids, I accepted that I too was a member of the marginalized.
What I found was that I repeatedly asked how I was different when I should have been asking how I was the same. The answer was simple. The one link that will never fail to connect us is our story. Who we are and where we come from is the very power of our being. Last summer I went to Washington D.C. to participate in a week of lobbying on capitol hill, meeting with my state representative, discussing the abuse of U.S. immigration and customs enforcement and the rapidly increasing incarceration rates in the United States with the ACLU advocacy institute because I wanted the chance to spread my story and learn about other stories with people who had a common goal.
My most precious gift I have to offer the world is my voice. I am dedicated to using my personal experience with cultural differences to change the face of international relations. By the strength of my voice I can move mountains and connect nations. To think that we are all alone is a false idea. I am a young Guyanese American woman with a passion for equality. I am a storyteller and a writer and we are all actors in a cosmic play. My name is Susanlyn Singroy and this is my story.