“So at school, I’m currently a student at BYU and sometimes professors in classes say things that are culturally insensitive or just flat out racist. Different professors pointing out my race in unnecessary ways and just making me feel uncomfortable. It’s been going on for years and years. Even when I was in the fourth grade I was called the n word and I didn’t even fully understand anything about the n word because I was 8 or 9, and I learned real quick, I educated myself real quick because I had to deal with that. I think that’s definitely a privilege that other people have, that they can educate themselves about racism instead of learning about it by experiencing it. 

My efforts to stop racism connect me to history and my ancestors because they connect me to the people who came before me. I can feel their spirits cheering me on and helping me. I don’t know who all of them all because it’s really hard to do genealogy because of slavery and records, but I like to think more of just my grandparents. They’re in their 70s, and they both marched in the Civil Rights movement in the 60’s. That wasn’t even really that long ago. And so since I know them and the movement wasn’t that long ago, it’s very easy to connect with. And what they did helps me to move forward and do the best that I can to make a difference. For instance, sometimes I have voter’s apathy but I’m not going to not vote because they fought for me to have the right to vote. 

Try to be involved in it even when it’s not a trend. For instance, right now I feel like the trend for the BLM movement is kind of dying down but the movement is still happening. So be involved in it even when the trend is gone. And don’t go to the protests just for the Gram, or just to take pictures. Try going without taking any pictures or sharing them at all. Just go because you know it’s the right thing to do. Think about the people who you are fighting for, think of who you want justice for. And try to donate to as many organizations as you can to help this, sign petitions, things like that can really make a difference. With your privilege, you can be an ally and that’s very important to do. 

My hope is that these things won’t die down because it was a hot trend for awhile. I hope that we can continue to fight until we get justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trevon Martin, and so many other lives that were lost to police and to white people unjustly. There’s so much to be done. The Black community is struggling so much right now, we have been for years. And people are just now recognizing it. And I appreciate the progress, but right now we can’t really afford to have slow progress anymore. ​