One Thursday night, my team and I attended an event that we were all "too tired" for. After a long week, Thursday nights are normally needed rest time. But this Thursday was different, and we weren't exactly thrilled to have a mandatory event.
We hopped on the bus and traveled almost an hour to attend a rally for Laquan McDonald, a 17-year-old who was wrongfully murdered by Chicago Police Officer James Van Dyke. The rally marked the anniversary of his death. Like many of the murders we hear about today, Laquan was doing absolutely nothing wrong. He, ultimately, was murdered for simply being black. For simplybeing.
The rally was very moving and motivational for me, and ended up being an experience I will not forget. Being one of maybe 30 white people in a crowd of about 150 people total was eye-opening, and strengthened my desire for all people to desire and fight for justice for the oppressed. To ditch this too-comfortable, stagnant lifestyle we are so used to and to get our hands dirty, to enter into violence, injustice, and heartache, and to fight.
At the rally, family members of multiple murdered young men and women shared their experiences and heartbreak. The pain they so visibly felt made a home in my heart as well, and their cries for safety, peace, and justice replayed in my head for days after. It reminded me that it is not enough to sit back and watch them beg for these things- we should be fighting, begging, hurting alongside them. As one speaker at the rally said, "There are no barriers when it comes to justice." We do not deserve more justice than people of color. We do not deserve more power, more safety, more love than those brothers and sisters. But since we have more of these things, why would we not use them to help those who do not?
Listen to the cries for justice. Don't just hear them, really listen. Remember that our lives are not more valuable than anyone else's, but at this point in our country, some lives are in danger. Some need protection, safety, love more than others. They so badly need justice.
Look into Laquan's Law. I hope you support it, and vocalize how it makes you feel. Help change Chicago by putting new people, people who value all lives, in power. Someone who will give everyone an equal chance. Someone who will actually listen to those cries for justice and respond.
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