In my world, bodies are falling to the ground every day. 

Whether they be the ravaged remains left by the virus or the silenced victims of police brutality.

And here I stand. A seventeen year old girl feeling so utterly small as her world burns and quivers, coughs and shakes around her. 

You see, when the coronavirus circulated the planet and infected our bodies and our lifestyles, we were terrified. even today, that fear has not shaken loose.

But that virus, which they told us could crush our lungs; take away our freedom, only made us stronger against an even greater sickness.

Racism. 

And with our renewed strength, we became angry; angrier than we have ever been before.

I know I did.

I wanted to scream at the leaders of this world; those who let hatred become louder than peace in the first place.

I wanted to scream at the perpetrators of discrimination; so blinded by the colour of one’s skin it is as if they did not even recognize us as humans.

The virus may destroy our bodies, but racism and hate is guaranteed to destroy our souls.

The pain it inflicts upon living, breathing human beings is unbearable. I will never understand how one person can do that to another; to despise them for their skin; their beauty gifted to them by God.

My confusion enhances anger; now, it consumes me. I haven’t stopped feeling angry since the day I heard George Floyd plead for his mother.

I am angry the murder of a black man was justified. I am angry that the who world had to witness such horror in order to believe in the reality of police brutality. I am angry that years of systemic racism and racial stereotypes have been molded so deeply into our society that people have the audacity to boldly proclaim their opinions on race, without consequences. I am angry that people refuse to understand the twisted history and significance of a word, just because they want to sing it in a song. I am angry that others have felt the need to define who i was just because i was mixed. I am angry that i wasted time crying into my pillow every time someone made me feel even more divided. I am angry that my faith has been adopted as a value of white supremacy. I am angry that i’m only seventeen and have never felt more powerless in my life. And i am angry that i let people take my power and take my voice merely because i wanted to feel, for a moment, what it was like to be accepted.

I have grown tired of being angry, especially when i realized that everyone is angry; it has infected more people than the virus ever could.

Yet, it is anger which hinders our progress toward change. we are fighting a war, but are not even equipped with the proper weapons: wisdom, peace, love, patience and assertiveness. Instead of breaking windows, we need to be breaking through the barriers of a corrupt system, rising through the ranks, and implementing change.

We may be in the age of the pandemics, but more importantly, we are in the age of the revolution. Our generation has watched on the sidelines as injustice has gone unpunished, hypocrisy has gone unrecognized, and intolerance has gone unchallenged. It is our duty, no matter race nor rank, to not make the same mistakes that have been cemented into history.

To those who stand in opposition, to those who claim the Black Lives Matter movement is nothing more than an entitled rebellion, I beg you to put down your guns and we will blow out our fires. We are fighting for change by being loud and unforgettable.

We just want to be heard.

So do not stand against us, but drop down to your knees next to us.

One pandemic brought us together. we can not let now let an even greater one drive us apart.