What do I need? Well, I need money for college, that’s for sure. And I need more people to understand that scholarships don’t come easy. I need more people to understand what a necessity college is as well. More importantly, I need people to stop telling my brethren to sit down when we stand up against the wrongs we see and face every day. I but first I need these people to stop shooting my brethren. I need to stay calm and remain composure because I am more than just another mad Black woman. I need to take a breath. Another. Because I need to show that I stand for a righteous cause. Because I need to show these people who put my Sisters on national TV just to shoot them down that we are not your inanimate action figures to toy with. Because there were comments saying, in defense of what the perpetrators shooting my Sister down, “Well, it’s what everyone was thinking.” Because I can see more and more every. day. that such remarks are true. Because I need to prove to these people that they’re wrong. I need to regain my composure because nobody’s going to listen to somebody who’s crying at the reality of this all. I need to realize that probably nobody’s going to listen to me anyways. I need to remind myself that I’m probably too light-skinned, weird, awkward, and quiet to be accepted by my own community. I need to remind myself that most of those things defy the very stereotype I am trying to combat. I need to remind myself that nobody forced me into such a position; I took on this role myself. I need to step back, take a breath, and stand up.