Change

My Grandfather always told me, “LaRosa, you will always have to work twice as hard for everything.” I didn’t want to believe this on our drive home from my predominately white middle school, but unfortunately being a 24-year-old black woman I have found this statement to be true. Being black in America is tiring, period. Everyday I struggle with being uncomfortable around police officers, hoping that someone doesn’t touch my hair, or even seeing another killing of someone who looks just like me.

A little over a year and half ago I moved to Denver, CO. This was a hard move for me not because I left my family, but because I never saw anyone that looked like me…. EVER. This left me feeling alone and wanting to be closer to my culture than ever before. I quickly began to research and listen to podcast about the injustices of black people. The story that touched me the most was the Central Park 5. I admit that this was not a story that I knew before watching the limited Netflix series, and this hurt me so much. This infuriated me and unfortunately this is still going on today in 2020.

J. Cole once said, “My intuition is telling me they’ll be better days.” I must say I do believe this, but we need change. Watching the protest on TV last night showed me that WE ARE TIRED. We are tired of not being heard. We are tired of this being a hot topic for just a couple of weeks. We are tired of people ignoring what is happening. And we are tired of being killed. This has led to the violent protest that we are seeing today.

What I don’t understand is how looting offends people more than killings. I remember standing in the hallways of Male High School and discussing what happened the night before to Trayvon Martin with my friends. I will never forget how I felt in that very moment. Ever since then we have tried many ways of peaceful protest and have been ignored. Change has not yet happened, but I pray that our current protest in the United States evoke change in the community and in the hearts of those that have oppressed us for years. I pray that we are finally being heard.