I don’t like seeing little kids in other countries

with their protruding bones

and hollow eyes.

 

I don’t like knowing that

the kid

whose the same age as me

who I see on the street

will never get the same opportunities

because of how much money he makes

or his race.

 

I don’t like being aware of the shit that we face

I don’t like noticing the women-hate present in my own family.

In my own school.

I don’t like it.

I didn’t notice it before.

 

But I am glad I know.

 

I hate these things

that feel like they are out of my control.

But

I am glad I know.

 

People don’t like the truth.

The truth is ugly.

And painful.

And it assigns blame to

us all.

 

People choose ignorance

It is bliss.

But living in ignorance promises that

nothing will get better.

 

Because maybe it is our fault.

That brown boys and brown girls hate the way they look.

 

Because maybe it is our fault.

That racism didn’t disappear with the civil rights acts.

 

Because maybe it is our fault.

That there is still not equality in the court rooms

or in the schools.

 

Because maybe it is our fault.

That women are blamed

for the raping of their own bodies.

 

We like to think that these things aren’t our fault.

That we are politically correct, whatever that means.

We like to think that because we’ve never done these things

ourselves

that we are not to blame.

 

“But if you are neutral in situations of injustice,

you have chosen the side of the oppressor”

 

What would I change

if I could change anything.

 

I would not change these circumstances.

 

I would change our attitudes towards them.

 

We have made this mess.

Of our own world.

Of our own people.

 

I would give us the opportunity to

fix it.

 

I believe in the beauty of humanity

despite how ugly it can appear.

 

I believe that if we would change our mindset

We would have the ability to change these injustices.

 

We wouldn’t side with the oppressor.

 

We would work.

We would make the change.