Sunday, May 29, 2016
Week 36 at Whitney Young
This week took so long to finish. It was a pretty hard week, but it ended well with a noce field trip to the zoo. I got a nice amount of sleep everyday; which was amazing. I also had really hard swim practices this week. So, I was still pretty tired even after getting a nice amount of sleep the previous night. I just want to be on break so that I can sleep as long as I please.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Acceptance Speech for Spingarn Medal
I’d like to thank president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Cornell William Brooks, and also members of the executive board for presenting me with the Spingarn Medal. The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the NAACP for outstanding achievement by an African American. The award, which consists of a gold medal, was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn, Chairman of the Board of the NAACP. I am honored to join the likes of William Edwards Burghardt Dubois (W. E. B. Dubois), George Washington Carver, Richard Wright, Martin Luther King Jr., Langston Hughes, Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, etc. as a recipient of this amazing award. I am grateful that the people of your organization have noticed my success in pushing for a bill that makes the unlawful use of violence by police officers on any race punishable by imprisonment and stripping of their police badge. I am also grateful that the government of the United States has passed this bill and has accepted it as a law that applies to all states in this country.
As a fourteen year old African American boy with access to internet resources such as Twitter and news outlets such as The New York Times, it’s very easy for me, and many of my peers, to see and become aware of the social injustices African Americans face in today’s society. Racism plays a big role in everything. Even the officers deemed best fit to protect the citizens of their country can be racist, unjust, and may or may not be positively affected by white privilege.
From January 1st to December 24th of 2015, a total of nine hundred and sixty five people were fatally shot by the police. Although black men make up only six percent of the United States population, they account for forty percent of unarmed men shot to death by police. So, that means that the police killed roughly about one hundred and two unarmed black people in 2015 (about two each week). Only ten of those one hundred and two cases resulted in the police officer(s) being charged with a crime.
Seeing my fellow African and African American brothers and sisters gunned down while unarmed and their killers being wrongfully prosecuted hurts me deeply inside. Even with video evidence and multiple witnesses, the policeman still find a way to avoid jail time for the crimes that they’ve committed. And I know that many citizens of this country can agree with me in thinking that that is very unfair.
Now I know that a lot of this information may sound made up, but I can assure you that the passing of my bill, along with the many other statistics about police brutality, is not. Passing this bill didn’t just consist of me sending a letter to the White House demanding that it be changed into a law. The process was way more extensive and difficult. First, I had to gather a reasonable amount of support from my friends, family, and social media followers. I needed people to encourage me to do something amazing for the African American community because I knew that many people would strive to get me not to push for my bill to be passed. After many weeks of coming up with ideas and parts of my proposed bill, I sent all of the work that I had done to the Illinois Representative for the second district, Robin Kelly. She thought that my bill was a great idea and immediately sent it into the U.S. House of Representatives. I then waited weeks and weeks for news about the passing or denying of my bill. I began to doubt that I should’ve thought of such an idea in the first place. But, before the negative thoughts of doubt and regret filled my mind, I got a letter in the mail saying that my bill was being sent to the president to be either approved, denied, or left alone. My family members and I pranced all around my mother’s house. We sang, danced, and prayed that President Obama would accept my bill. A couple days later, my mother received a note from the White House saying that my bill has now become a law and will be enforced by the government in every single state.
With the passing of my bill, there will no longer be national outcries and protests because the jury made their decision based on the color of the skin of the murderer and victim. With the passing of my bill, America will start to realize how many real “thugs” there are being prosecuted. I am thankful for this award because it has helped me bring and spread awareness about police officers not being invincible anymore. I am thankful for this award because now every African American in this country can feel a little safer knowing that there is less of a chance that their brothers, fathers, sisters, and mothers will be gunned down on the streets that they live on.
African Americans shouldn’t be in constant fear of death while carrying out average daily activities. We shouldn’t have to take off our hoods while taking a walk in our neighborhoods or buying things from the store. We shouldn’t be treated as animals and be given little to no human rights. We shouldn’t have to pray that that white policeman will get jail time if he/she is caught on tape murdering one of our family members. We should be treated as equally as anyone of any other color. We should be able to live in a society where the color of our skin plays no role in how our cases are being judged. We should all be equal. And I’m eternally grateful that the members of the NAACP are fully aware of that.
As a fourteen year old African American boy with access to internet resources such as Twitter and news outlets such as The New York Times, it’s very easy for me, and many of my peers, to see and become aware of the social injustices African Americans face in today’s society. Racism plays a big role in everything. Even the officers deemed best fit to protect the citizens of their country can be racist, unjust, and may or may not be positively affected by white privilege.
From January 1st to December 24th of 2015, a total of nine hundred and sixty five people were fatally shot by the police. Although black men make up only six percent of the United States population, they account for forty percent of unarmed men shot to death by police. So, that means that the police killed roughly about one hundred and two unarmed black people in 2015 (about two each week). Only ten of those one hundred and two cases resulted in the police officer(s) being charged with a crime.
Seeing my fellow African and African American brothers and sisters gunned down while unarmed and their killers being wrongfully prosecuted hurts me deeply inside. Even with video evidence and multiple witnesses, the policeman still find a way to avoid jail time for the crimes that they’ve committed. And I know that many citizens of this country can agree with me in thinking that that is very unfair.
Now I know that a lot of this information may sound made up, but I can assure you that the passing of my bill, along with the many other statistics about police brutality, is not. Passing this bill didn’t just consist of me sending a letter to the White House demanding that it be changed into a law. The process was way more extensive and difficult. First, I had to gather a reasonable amount of support from my friends, family, and social media followers. I needed people to encourage me to do something amazing for the African American community because I knew that many people would strive to get me not to push for my bill to be passed. After many weeks of coming up with ideas and parts of my proposed bill, I sent all of the work that I had done to the Illinois Representative for the second district, Robin Kelly. She thought that my bill was a great idea and immediately sent it into the U.S. House of Representatives. I then waited weeks and weeks for news about the passing or denying of my bill. I began to doubt that I should’ve thought of such an idea in the first place. But, before the negative thoughts of doubt and regret filled my mind, I got a letter in the mail saying that my bill was being sent to the president to be either approved, denied, or left alone. My family members and I pranced all around my mother’s house. We sang, danced, and prayed that President Obama would accept my bill. A couple days later, my mother received a note from the White House saying that my bill has now become a law and will be enforced by the government in every single state.
With the passing of my bill, there will no longer be national outcries and protests because the jury made their decision based on the color of the skin of the murderer and victim. With the passing of my bill, America will start to realize how many real “thugs” there are being prosecuted. I am thankful for this award because it has helped me bring and spread awareness about police officers not being invincible anymore. I am thankful for this award because now every African American in this country can feel a little safer knowing that there is less of a chance that their brothers, fathers, sisters, and mothers will be gunned down on the streets that they live on.
African Americans shouldn’t be in constant fear of death while carrying out average daily activities. We shouldn’t have to take off our hoods while taking a walk in our neighborhoods or buying things from the store. We shouldn’t be treated as animals and be given little to no human rights. We shouldn’t have to pray that that white policeman will get jail time if he/she is caught on tape murdering one of our family members. We should be treated as equally as anyone of any other color. We should be able to live in a society where the color of our skin plays no role in how our cases are being judged. We should all be equal. And I’m eternally grateful that the members of the NAACP are fully aware of that.
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Week 35 at Whitney Young
This week was pretty okay. I had an amazing field trip for mandarin class on Tuesday. We went to the field museum, a Chinese restaurant named Chopsticks, a donut shop named Dan's Donuts, Target, and took the train and bus almost everywhere we went. The rest of the week was pretty chill. I had lots of tests and quizzes, but I'm pretty sure that I did well on them. I also have my first swim meet for the 2016 long course season this weekend. AND SCHOOL IS OVER IN FOUR WEEKS!!!
Friday, May 13, 2016
Week 34 at Whitney Young
This week was pretty chill. I didn't have any problems at school or with swimming. My school work, homework, and physical activities didn't cause me any anxiety, so this week was definitely pretty good. Hopefully next week is as good, or better, than this one was.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Week 33 at Whitney Young
This week was pretty bad. I had so many quizzes amd tests to take. I also had a lot of homework, and didn't get very much sleep. Swim practice was also pretty hard. So, yeah. This week was not my week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)