In my opinion I believe that white privilege is a huge problem and it does certainly exist. For example when I think about the things that have gone down at the capital these past few days, all of those trump supporters went to the capital and thought that it was okay to destroy government property, and it was completely uncalled for. They did a huge “protest” and hurt people along the way. One person died from the fight, which is took into consideration, however, it is not much compared to when the African American people and allies did a peaceful protest. It was disgusting to see how people were treated a couple of months ago to get exactly what they wanted from their protest.

For myself it made me want to get out there and create justice myself, but I know that if I do then I would be fearing for my life and stooping to the people who chose their opinion over some life. Living as an African American woman in today’s society is terrifying. I fear that I might not even come back home some days and it’s even worse to think about my family and friends under the same circumstances. For example I have a little brother and he doesn’t live with me which is scary and knowing that he is out there and me not being able to see him everyday is terrifying, because I know that when he gets older he will fear for his life everyday and it’s not how I want him to live.

I don’t know many things about American history but one thing that is consistent is that people have killed people just like me day after day. They do not show one inch of empathy and feeling for the families that have to go to countless funerals or the parents that have to plan for their kids funerals. A parent never ever expects their kid to die before they do, and it hurts to see your family sitting there in a casket and you knowing you will never be able to see them smile or laugh, or that you will never feel the gentle hugs that they use to give you and you knowing that you will never see them again all because they were trying to do the right thing or because a police officer “thought” anything (at this point).

Seeing these things go down every single day because the color of someone’s skin really makes me rethink where it all started. It makes me think of my ancestors and what they had to go through to get us to this day and we still don’t even have the rights that we deserve. My ancestors fought, cried, starved, and died just so that we could still get judged by the color of our skin and knowing that they had to go through all of that because of something so little just makes me want to cry. The people at the capitol hurt and destroyed things while black people peacefully marched so that we could just go out one day and not get into an argument because someone thought we looked suspicious or just so that a police officer wouldn’t kill one of us because “we have a gun.” Black people get tear gassed, hit, beaten, and basically tortured because people believe we are dangerous when all we want is peace. We fight for us and other people of color because we all deserve better. We deserve to walk outside and be happy and not scared for our lives. We deserve to know that our kids or future kids will be okay when they go to school or to the store or when they get stopped by the cops. I am a person. I’m not some monster that hurts everyone in my path. I’m a strong and independent black woman and yeah, sometimes I might get out of character because I’m a human and humans do those thing none of us are perfect. And yes, we are all different, but just because my skin is darker than someone else does not mean that I’m dangerous or disgusting. The thing that is disgusting is that my people are dying everyday because there is white privilege and it isn’t going to stop until we do something about it.