I am an Asian with an American/Vietnamese/Chinese background, therefore, I don’t experience what African Americans have to suffer through on a daily basis. Many black people suffer and go through a lot of negative things, and I am thankful I can’t say the same but I shouldn’t have to say that. I despise of this topic for it is one that I held back to speak upon, and I believe these type of things should be talked about and heard. Throughout our lives, I can assume that we all saw a picture of some random black person get murdered by a white person but kept scrolling down our feed or continued on with our day. It’s situations like those that empower these events to continue to happen.

People must start speaking up for these things and stop being silent. It shouldn’t have to come down to the person we love or are friends with being murdered to speak up for this type of injustice. And even then people might not spread the word about how vile our society has become. African Americans have already lived through slavery and it was overruled for equality, yet racism still exists to this day. Neither of those things were an option. After all, who would choose to have to deal with that type of hate.

We keep talking about wanting things around us to change, however we never make an effort to change it. You must be the change you want to see, meaning it’s time to speak up. Protesters aren’t being heard, but if the majority of us speak up then we are bound to be heard. The justice system has gotten so corrupted that we can no longer trust it to protect us. A few bad cops have changed the police industry’s entire image and they have allowed it, so what does that say about them? Cops talk about protecting the people, but won’t punish the men who have abused their power. Are the cops who are innocent really innocent if they stand by and watch that happen to their own community.

In today’s society we categorize and stereotype white people and white cops into the same category, but it isn’t fair to the ones who are genuinely good people. Yes, they have been known as the ones who started slavery and racism, but not all of them have the same mindset. Judging them does not make us any better than them when they judge us based on the color of their skin. And yes all African Americans might not be innocent, however it does not give us the right to decide that they are all similar. And it definitely does not give us the right to kill them or treat them with disrespect.

I recently saw this eighteen year old girl on my Instagram feed and it said she was stabbed to death by a white man and I could not help but feel terrible. She was murdered by a white man, and the media tried to twist her innocent, good girl image by including a photo of her on the news of her holding what seemed like a “gun” to her ear. On the other hand, John Lee Cowell (her murderer) was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He gets to be looked at differently just because he has a mental illness. Now when some people hear about the case it is going to seem like he did it because he’s crazy and not because he’s racist.

I will no longer allow my age to be the main factor on why I haven’t spoken up and expressed my thoughts on issues going on in our world. In fact, now I believe my age should help me express myself even more because I see things differently than adults. With all due respect teens can be wiser about some situations compared to adults. In addition, this could be the generation to change it all. No one is perfect, we all have our mistakes, flaws, and regrets, but the color of our skin doesn’t make us any different from one another. Conditions like these may not affect us but they should, and speaking up is the first step to change.