Let Freedom Ring

    The month of April is now coming to an end, and, on the 4th, it marked 55 years since Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated for helping to fight against racial inequality in America. We have seen some change, but here we are 55 whole years later and there’s still so much to do considering the decades that have gone by since his death. Our country likes for us to think we have moved past these times and need to stop using the race card to define different scenarios, but almost every month a new, disappointing event assures us as to why we feel this way, and this is not a good thing at all. We are still actively dealing with innocent Black men and women being killed based on the color of their skin, changes in voter’s rights act that no longer protects people of color in some Southern states, mass incarceration of many Black men that is beyond disproportionate to other racial groups, and so many other areas that are not mentioned here but improvement is necessary.

     Again, here we are 55 years later, why do you think this is so? In the Black communities, we have increased college education than is past generations from the 1960’s, we have increased our involvement in various industries that we were not accepted in previously, and we have increased our levels of homeownership.

     Again, 55 years later, we have seen a Black President, a Black Vice President, Black Supreme Court Judge, more representation in Congress and in the Senate, and more Blacks in law enforcement.

     Again 55 years later, we have more broken communities secondary to gentrification and violence among ourselves along with poverty.

     Again 55 years later, we have increased levels of Black women dying after giving birth to children (Sha-Asia Washington and Kyira Adele Dixon), Black men dying from sitting on their own couch (Botham Jean), Black men dying from wearing a hoodie (Trayvon Martin), Black women dying because of who they dated in the past (Brianna Taylor), Black men/women dying while in the custody of law enforcement (George Floyd, Tyre Nichols, and Sandra Bland), Black men dying while jogging (Ahmaud Arbery), and now Black boys getting shot for ringing the wrong bell (Ralph Yarl).

   Again 55 years later, we have social media and see videos of many of these events taking place and we see some of the racist people finally being held accountable for their actions of discrimination but not enough even with protests.

    Again 55 years later, we see political figures making laws to ban the education of Black History in this country including banning books.

    Again 55 years later, why do you think all of this is so? It is evident that there is still an issue to be tackled but how do we make it there? How do we get to the other side of this?

    I don’t have a solution because the more years I live makes it very difficult to figure out because I’ve seen so much injustice, but I play my part in prioritizing many things. I vote during local elections just as much as presidential elections because who are the Judges and District Attorneys in your city, I buy black as much as I can afford because it’s the right thing to do if I’m going to spend my money, I treat all people I work with the same especially those who are new whether or not they are Black or Brown because there is no competition unless we allow it, and I try to make sure wherever I live is diverse enough that I live amongst my people in some way. Each person lives in different ways, but I hope each of us can do our best to make sure we keep hope alive and don’t give up the fight to making this country a more acceptable place for all and not allow the system it currently runs on to tear us apart from our morals in sticking together to move closer to freedom and let it ring from high above the mountaintops.