Will you Stand with us as Well?

During this time of war, famine, and deportation, it is very apparent who is standing on

the right side of history. But it seems like a certain demographic will get praised for standing up

for basic human rights, while the ones who don’t speak up, we are never surprised they don’t.

            As a black woman, I have been advocating against all the terrible things happening in the

world. But this morning, I thought about what that truly meant. I didn’t start speaking about the

ICE raids when black people in Chicago got involved; I was speaking out when it was Hispanic

people in California. Some people finally spoke up about police brutality after the video of a

drunk police officer attacking two white teenage boys, but as a black American, I have been

speaking about these issues since elementary school.  

Your Privilege Is Showing

People don’t speak up, but for the most part, they don’t think it has anything to do with

them. But when our Hispanic brothers and sisters are suffering, our country also suffers. When

the federal government is shutting down, it’s not a democrat or republican thing; it’s our whole

country’s problem. Certain individuals only think about their demographic, which then ruins the

rest of America.

            This year, when the protest started up again, I’ve seen a wave of people, not just black

people, telling black Americans to stay home. Why? Because black Americans are usually the

first ones to stand up for others. We have been there time and time again. We relate to so many

people in America because we have gone through so many different things. Whether we are

related to them or have never seen them in our lives, we still feel the pain of our people.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

― Barack Obama

            People being killed and abused in the streets isn’t new to us. Children being separated

from their families isn’t new to us, and our country not caring for our well-being isn’t new to us.

We are so easy to stand for others, because there was a time when no one stood for us, but us.

Before cancel culture became a thing, or when it was ‘trending’ to be woke and empathetic, did

people stand for each other? Did you speak for the people, against the people, or not at all?