Dear World

Dear World,

We are predominately made up of green and blue, or at least those are the colors that I use when I draw Earth on a blank white page. From a closer perspective, however, all you seem to see is black and white – two colors that when mixed together usually make gray, but in this case, they make red – a symbolism of rage. Since early in our history and even after numerous laws, movements, and protests, there has been a racial divide.

Regardless of skin color, all of our lungs, hearts, and muscles are in the same place anatomically, so why is it so hard for our worlds to peacefully coincide? The reality of it is all is that our problems are now bigger than black and white and neither race should act pre-eminently, but in order to solve the problem and join as one, we must first look at both worlds individually.

Dear White People, 

The Declaration of Independence is accurate when it states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal” unless you are black and have an opinion, then all you get is a bullet, one that is usually lethal. In 2018, fourteen-year-old Brennan Walker was shot at because he knocked on a white lady’s door asking for directions to school.

Does it make it justifiable that she thought he was trying to rob her? Does it make the situation ok because she was trying not to be a fool? That young boy could have lost his life simply from trying to obtain his education – he didn’t fit the description of the typical thug, nor did he throw up a single fist. Yet, her husband came out with a shotgun and fired it. Luckily, the boy ran away, and the bullet missed.

But what about the not-so-lucky ones, the victims where the odds were not in their favor? Just a week ago, a twenty-year-old male was shot in the chest during a traffic stop and what’s even more shocking is that the officer made claims that she mistook the black gun for a yellow taser. What started off as a traffic violation ended as yet another black fatality, another tragedy that the black community has to ponder.

His name was Duante Wright and now Minnesota has another young child that is left in this cruel world without a father. Killing after killing, death after death, has it gotten through to you yet? It seems like it’s becoming a trend for headlines to broadcast that another person of color is killed, simply because we are looked at as a threat. But no, the blame is not all on you and the other side of the coin cannot be skipped. The black community plays a role in the racial divide as well. Allow me to flip the script.

Dear Black People,

Don’t be so quick to throw the blame because you’re no saint either. Statistics show that we are killing each other more than they are killing us, which only makes the problem deeper. Last year, eight-year-old Secoriea Turner was shot and killed in a frenzied Fourth of July attack. When the suspect was identified, however, it turned out that it was not someone of the opposite race, but he was surprisingly another black.

We’re so quick to protest for weeks on end yelling “Black Lives Matter”, but do they really matter all the time? We come across as hypocrites because it seems as if the phrase goes out the window when it’s black on black crime. At the same token, it’s so contradicting to go around addressing each other as “Nigga”, even though most times it’s cordially intended. It gives the impression that it’s only a derogatory term when it comes from the opposite race because when a white person says it, we’re so quick to get offended.

In today’s generation, we can’t even seem to enjoy luxuries as a child without our peers passing judgment because we’re expected to “get it out the mud” instead. As soon as you get a car for your 16th birthday or build credit while in high school, you’re automatically categorized as spoon-fed. How are we supposed to grow from being suppressed in the past when we are constantly tearing each other down? We have to look in the mirror and evaluate ourselves before condemning the opposite race because sometimes the antagonists are much closer – sometimes they are those who are mostly around.

Overall, black and white should not be two separate entities and we need to erase the racial divide. We could experience so much more and accomplish so much bigger if we just let our two worlds peacefully coincide. In reality, both colors are to blame, and we need to fix the issues in both before we can mimic the Earth drawing and become evenly swirled. In actuality, it’s not “Dear White People” or “Dear Black People, it’s “Dear World”.