The Rat and the Pigeon

A whimsical graphic design by Sara Sabbagh features a rat and a pigeon against a starry night skyline of Washington, D.C.

By Jacqueline (Jax) Santos

I walk the streets with wings too tired to soar,

a pigeon among towers of glass and marble,

skimming the fountain of Dupont Circle,

dodging tourists and motorbikes,

scavenging crumbs no one noticed.

I move in shadows,

a rat among alleyways of promise,

slipping past the quiet gaze of monuments,

hiding from sirens and polished Oxford shoes,

surviving on scraps of a dream

that was never meant for me.

My feathers are dusted in struggle,

my paws etched with hunger,

but I carry the weight of the people

who keep breathing

in a world that pretends not to see me.

Call me a hazard,

call me a nuisance,

but know this:

the pigeon finds sky in every court,

the rat builds life in every crack,

and I, too, endure

through the hum of the Metro,

the cold steps of the Lincoln Memorial,

the glare of glass towers on K Street,

I endure,

alive in a city that overlooks me,

yet cannot erase me.

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I recently visited New York City, where I came across some art of a rat hugging a pigeon at a novelty store. Among all the fun pieces around me, this one stirred something in me. The rat and pigeon's glossy eyes invoked emotion. It invoked sadness. I knew then that it needed to come home with me. A week later, I’m sitting in my D.C. apartment with this picture, and I put it on my desk. Later, while on a virtual meeting, I found that my eyes constantly betrayed my focus, and they kept drifting to the rat and the pigeon next to my laptop screen. I knew then that I needed to tell their story.

While gazing at these two embracing animals, I couldn’t help but think about the inequality, abandonment, and disappointment of being let down by my country. This art is a reflection of how I currently feel.

I am a proud Mexican American, born and raised in South Texas. My family has lived there for over a hundred years. And like many other Americans, we have fought in its wars, built its communities, tended its fields, and raised its children. And yet, like the very descendants of the pigeons that once served as vital and lauded military messengers during both World Wars, and the rats caged, used as tools, and subjected to trials without consent in the pursuit of progress, they too are now abandoned. So, too is my community often overlooked, silenced, and our lauded places in American history forgotten. Being raised in a working-class family in the United States often means navigating multiple layers of inequality that include economic hardship, systemic racism, cultural invisibility, and the painful reality that the country you help sustain may not fully see or support you. In this same way, I recognized both the rat and the pigeon in myself.

These past seven months have been especially hard, watching ICE raids sweep across the country, tearing families apart. I see my community trembling under the fear of deportation. Children are being detained at gunpoint in schools. Parents worry that stepping out to work could mean never coming home. Like a rat scurrying through the streets, trying to survive, we too must now be invisible, careful, and silent- moving fast but not so fast that we draw attention. One wrong step, one careless glance, and a bird of prey might see us and snatch us away.

We navigate a world not made for us, vulnerable to dangers beyond our control, our survival never guaranteed. I think about how abandoned I feel by a country that favors the show bird, the one percent. I think about those across the nation who live with the constant uncertainty and fear of not being able to pay the mortgage, buy food, or make it through another month.

Like this rat and pigeon, we are all vulnerable. Exposed to the coldness beneath our feet, the harshness of the streets, and the indifference of those who should care. 

However, their embrace in the art can also be a reminder that survival in itself is an act of courage. Coming together in a world that devalues us is resistance. I am both the rat and the pigeon- in a constant fight for survival, overlooked and even stigmatized, yet resilient I remain.

About the Author: Jax Santos serves as the Chair of the Women’s Intergenerational Network. She has a Master's degree in Global Affairs from the University of Oklahoma. Her love of taking long, intentional strolls around the D.C. area and this piece by artist Diana Teeter, inspired these writings.