What Do Immigrant Teens Have to Teach Us? A Lot.

Join WNYC for an evening of spoken-word performances reflecting on what it means to navigate New York City as a newcomer. These young performers are new immigrants and first-generation Americans who are learning to find their voice at a time when national attitudes toward immigration can be negative and divisive.

Seven students will perform spoken-word pieces on Thursday, May 5, in The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space. The event will be hosted by Caribbean-born comic Janelle James.

The students' works relay their experiences on fitting in or feeling judged, embracing their culture or becoming a New Yorker — or all of the above.

We also meet students taking part in an after-school club overhauling bikes at the International High School at Union Square. Faced with language barriers, students in the club find that working with their hands, and not having to talk, has been a welcome break in their day.

Spoken-word pieces will touch on students' immigration stories, what it means to wear a hijab on the subway and watching the trial of police officer Peter Liang unfold as a Chinese-American teenager.

Alhassan Umar, from Ghana and a senior at Frederick Douglass Academy in the Bronx, will perform his original poem If Donald Trump Was Black. Here is a sample:

If Donald trump was black,
The Trump Towers would be called the Unity Towers
And the interior walls would have paintings of his favorite heroes like Frederick Douglass Sipping black tea with Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks discussing last night’s episode of the Underground Railroad with MLK
The hallways would smell like pleasant memories of ginger 
And the exterior would reflect the smiles of people who pass by admiring the beauty of his work

If Donald trump was black
He would still tell stories of money but in a different perspective
He would talk about how he grew up in New York City and how his father gave him a loan of a million responsibilities
How he had to struggle to balance school and work
Family and relationships
Desires and commitment
A top cheese or bacon egg and cheese
But he would also have neck problems
From turning around to check if he was safe
And to make sure he wasn't stumbling into the barrel of a gun
Because he knew that as long as his skin was visible he would never be safe

Tickets for the event are free for students and educators. They can be reserved in advance online or obtained at the door. Doors for the show open at 5:00 p.m., with performances beginning promptly at 5:30 p.m.

The event is in partnership with the Global Nation Project at PRI, Public Radio International, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.