The Other Americans

by Laila Lalami

I had long ago learned that the savagery of a man named Mohammed was rarely questioned, but his humanity always had to be proven.

Humility had been drilled in me, as it was in most of the women I knew, and I found it hard to get rid of it, even though it was frequently mistaken for inability.

the civilians who died in American wars would receive only silence. National memory was built from such erasures.