Make a change for the future

I’ve been described as full of anger, and I am letting y’all know—I certainly am. I’m actually furious with the systematic discrimination that is instilled not only into our society but us as individuals.

Y’all ever open the door to your new AP or honors course and only see white children in the class? Ever feel so out of place that you drop yourself to CP because it’s more comfortable? We need to fix that. If black students do not take the initiative to push ourselves into such classes, when exactly are we supposed to expect black kids to be equally represented in the intellectual community as white kids are?

The way y’all are approaching school gives you opportunity to stop at any time—to just quit. It probably doesn’t feel like y’all have too much to lose because y’all are looking at this place only as a place you’re forced to go. And maybe it does feel like that sometimes—probably most of the time based on how some people act. But you’ve got to learn how to prioritize for your future.

I know so many of y’all will finish a class with easy As and Bs in a subject and have the audacity to stay in CP the next year. If you know you can be in honors and you still don’t move up, you are doing what is expected of you.

But if you aren’t pushing yourself, you are also disrespecting the kids who actually try their best in CP classes and still aren’t succeeding. These kids are trying to do something for themselves.

For those kids, keep going. There are geniuses out there who stay in CP by choice and don’t change anything in their future. You have the drive to surpass the kids who aren’t trying, so do what you have to do.

Listen, if y’all aren’t going to try to do it for yourself, do it for the culture. Do it for the black community. Do something to better our name, not just yours.

Take opportunities. One of my co-workers said to me, “We are in a generation of fake woke people. So many people, which includes blacks and whites, can preach that they know of the struggle, but what are they doing for black people?”

That kinda hit me. Everyone sees the things going on, but what are they doing about it? What are we doing about it? If all we are doing is the bare minimum to get by instead of taking advantage of all the opportunities this place provides for us, how are we helping ourselves?

If y’all strive for the best right now, you will be able to change that. It will not be easy, but y’all know we have to try. Even doing something like owning your own nail salon is changing the expectations. Because guess what? That’s one more black-owned business.

Even if you’re working at a fast food place and you’re striving to get to a better job, that’s changing the expectations because you are being ambitious. You’re not settling, even though the conditions are hard, which they always are.

I’m telling y’all this because it seems y’all need more reasons to push yourself.

Let ignorant people be a reason.

Let the little white children who can’t keep the n-word out of their mouths be a reason.

Let anger, ambition, money, anything be a reason to get higher in this society even if your teachers, administrators or even family members don’t push you.

Do not only listen but heed this message and do something because the thing is, this impacts y’all. Unfortunately, there’s a chance you can be unfairly discriminated upon in the future or even tomorrow because God blessed you with that dripping melanin. We are the next generation. We have to do something to step up our culture in this country.

You can start by working harder, so you can succeed for us. Don’t let black history be celebrated for only a month, make sure people celebrate you for years.

Make our history.