It Had To Be Said

revolutions are started by students

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dear high school and college students,

i write this love letter to you as i’m struggling to mend my broken heart. i weep as yet another legal decision ignores evidence of a crime, instead choosing to minimize the value of black and brown lives in this version of america you are soon to inherit. i fume with you as you try to make sense of calls from a growing sect of the population to reclaim america and wonder who are we trying to reclaim it from. i scream with you as you demand to be seen and heard and acknowledged as human, free, and worthy of existence. i ponder with you as you seek to find meaning in a justice system that time after time commits injustices when black and bodies are involved.

i march with you, sign in hand, as you take to the streets and bring traffic in cities and on highways across the nation to a stand still. i abstain with you as you declare you will spend not one dime this holiday season unless it is at a black or brown establishment because our buying power is as powerful as our voices. i lay down with you as you crowd into common spaces on america’s high school and college campuses and hold die-ins because we are tired of seeing our babies, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, and friends slaughtered in the streets, imprisoned in for-profit correctional facilities, and forgotten or ignored in classrooms across the nation.

i shout with you, “wake up” because i recognize we were lulled into slumber surrounded by our middle-class comforts of luxury vehicles, suburban homes, and designer labels, while the majority of our people remain locked out of the american dream, existing just passed the “access denied” sign hanging at corporate headquarters in our major cities. i write this letter to you high school and college students, because i know you are tired, and angry, and energized, and powerful, and impactful. i write this letter to you high school and college students because i love you and i support you and i stand with you.

not only do you matter, but you are the hope of our nation. reverend jesse jackson said revolutions are started by students. thank you for being revolutionaries.

signed,
one brown girl in seattle who loves you

 

(a special thank you to my soror, rahiel tesfamariam, and her team at urbancusp.com for documenting the revolution. it might not be televisised, but it won’t be ignored!)

 

Nourisha Wells

I'm cool and incredibly fun. I geek out on scifi/fantasy/action, video games, comics, superheroes and the outdoors. I pwnd the interwebs for a living.

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