krysley’s Reviews > Asylum: A Memoir & Manifesto > Status Update

"We are displaced due to man-made policies, we fled when home was no longer safe, we became destitute in a foreign land, and all we ask for in return is your compassion. To see us for who we are and to give us a genuine opportunity to build a life of our design."

"Immigrants know how to fight when our backs are up against a wall. Most Americans can't relate - relatively, because Americans are afforded so many privileges. But what most Americans overlook is that someone in their family - their parents, their grandparents, their great-great-great-grandparents - had to sacrifice a great deal to come here, too."

"For what happened in the past we can blame others, but for what will happen in the future we cannot blame anyone but ourselves."

"I mustered the courage to fight, despite the backlash I faced, because my life has to be a refuge for others; my hope is that we will all consider becoming a refuge for people who have a thirst for freedom."

"I have always challenged the prejudice people have toward me, but it is an exhausting responsibility to educate your discriminators."

"When told to return to my country, what I would have wanted to say is that a refugee has no country. We lose that the day we leave."

"Homophobia travels across every border in the world. It's hard for many people to understand gay people - when they think of us, they see us solely as sexual beings and nothing else. To them, we are not people who deserve love and compassion."

"As I left, this fact drew into clear focus for me: these centers were designed to detail and detour us, to break us down, to abandon our hope for safety in the United States "

Edafe's writing really shines when he's arguing a point or educating a reader. I wish events in his life were written as strongly.

"It was clear I was walking into fire - but I would rather have been burned fighting for change than be burned slowly on the sidelines, watching members of my community die, while waiting for my turn."