Unaccompanied Quotes

“I’ve always known this country wanted me dead do you believe me when I say more than once a white man wanted me dead a white man passed a bill that wants me deported wants my family deported”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“I wasn’t born here I’ve always known this country wanted me dead do you believe me when I say more than once a white man wanted me dead a white man passed a bill that wants me deported wants my family deported a white man a white man a white man not the song I wanted to hear driving to the airport today the road the trees the signs the sky the cars the walls the lights told me we want you out out out out”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“wasn’t born here I’ve always known this country wanted me dead do you believe me when I say more than once a white man wanted me dead a white man passed a bill that wants me deported wants my family deported a white man a white man a white man not the song I wanted to hear driving to the airport today the road the trees the signs the sky the cars the walls the lights told me we want you out out out out”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“what I really mean when I say I can never go back is I wish to lie next to you every morning, where we dive headfirst to know what it’s like to swim in the middle of love and see each gull flee like clothes bouncing off the wall to the carpet we must pick clean like a beach, after hurricanes.”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“The last second has passed and I can’t forget one centimeter.”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“You don’t need more than food, a roof, and clothes on your back. I’d add Mom’s warmth, the need for war to stop.”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“So I wouldn’t touch their legs that kicked you, you pushed me under your chest, and I’ve never thanked you. Beautiful Chino — the only name I know to call you by — farewell your tattooed chest: the M, the S, the 13. Farewell the phone number you gave me when you went east to Virginia, and I went west to San Francisco.”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“Earlier, Dad in his truck: “always look gringos in the eyes.” Mom: “never tell them everything, but smile, always smile.”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“officers yelled on your fucking knees you couldn’t have known this could happen Mom you couldn’t have no es su culpa no lo es”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“the thin white man let us drink from a hose while pointing his shotgun. In pocho Spanish he told us si correr perros atacar.”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied

“Javier saw a dead coyote animal, which stank and had flies over it. I keep this book in an old shoebox underneath the bed. She asked in Spanish, I just smiled, didn’t tell her, no animal, I knew that man.”
― Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied