Tomorrow begins a new month and the beginning of the end of our time with a black president.

How does that make you feel?

Hopefully, there is some part of you that feels ready, strong, eager, and ambitious. Now is the time for this generation to really stand up and fight for the change that we all keep talking about.  How long are we going to let others make decisions for us? How long are we going to ask for change and not take it?

At what point do we stop with the protests and the riots and actually come up with foolproof ways to create change?

I think one of our biggest problems is that many of us don’t know the real reason why we’re upset. Is it because black people are continuously being slaughtered for minor to no offenses? Are you angry because the people who are trained, paid, and glorified to protect us are the ones doing it? Or are you frustrated  because there seem to be no consequences for any of these actions? Or is it all of the above?

Have you actually taken the time to really understand why? Why are you so hurt, angry, and disgusted?

I did, and I think the biggest reason there is so much emotion in the thought that someone can kill me or anyone that looks like me, and for an entire population, what feels like the entire country, it wouldn’t even matter. To walk across a PWI’s (predominately white institution) campus and know that the majority of the people I pass everyday, that I sit next to in class and work with, would not only be un-phased by my death, but would probably blame me for it, simply because of my skin color.

I say all that to say, we have to find some other alternatives to combat this normalization in society. It has become common and normal to see another hashtag. What can we do?

My biggest issue with this entire situation is that there is no accountability. The standard for an officer is to immediately go on paid leave once an investigation has begun. Aside, from going to trial or being found not guilty, the officer is already being rewarded with paid time off. So, I started looking into the current laws in  Oklahoma. In my opinion, the best thing we can do is educate ourselves on the laws and practices already in place and try to change what we don’t feel is just. Then we have to create new proposals of just measure.

I think it starts with changing the laws already in place.

What do you think?