My life is surrounded by people who care and love me, and this makes it a wonderful life. But for other people, that’s not the case. They are not very different from me. They had dreams, hobbies, and hopes, though, they lack help, caring, and love, and this made their lives very difficult. I never have to face the issue of finding a reason to be in a rich white neighborhood or facing prejudice in being me.
I put myself in their shoes. How would I feel seeing my people wrongfully committed in jail, died of the kneeling of the polices, or police playing target practice in front of my house? Horrified, I could do nothing. I’d feel incompetent to protect my family and children. I want to fight back yet I don’t know-how. This is why advocacy resonates with me so much because you have the privileged ones continuing with their lives and the minorities suffering from incidents media block about. Public addresses as a THEY issue when it’s a US issue. We need to help them not because the celebrities say so but because you would do the same if it was your people, your brothers, your parents, your children.
I’ve always imagined, in bad neighborhoods in the US, there are plenty of kids like me, optimistic and caring who has played professional basketball as their dreams. However, unlike me, they don’t think about “What’s Mom gonna cook for dinner tonight?”. They worry, “Will I make it home tonight?” Why are our lives so different? They did nothing wrong, but they were still punished like they are criminals. We all deserve equal opportunities. Like us, they should have basic human rights. Why is that we divide ourselves into enemies of different races, religion, power when we can unite together to become a much stronger family.
We are throwing away black lives like paper towels. When are we finally going to learn to stick and work through the problem together? Stop hiding in the shadow, and voice up for the revolution. I want justice, and I want it now.