Choose a recent civic, national, or world event and briefly describe your thoughts about it.
The Black Lives Matter movement in the United States has prompted me to reflect on my own life as a black woman from Africa. Seeing and hearing about the issues that Black people in the United States face through posts on social media terrify me. Seeing older generations of my people killed and looked down upon makes me question if I will face the same fate in my life here in the United States.
I’ve learned that the voices of people of color are underrepresented, and as a young person, I know my voice will not be heard as easily. That will not deter me from speaking up because speaking out makes a difference, whether or not people listen, and at least you speak up. Silence isn’t always the solution; sometimes you just have to speak up, which is what I’m doing as a young black woman.
I’m part of a group called Unheard Stories, where we discuss our experiences as black people living in the United States. In 2023, I was part of the group that performed a play at Winooski High School and our goal in performing was to challenge the media because it had been saying a lot of negative things about Africa and wasn’t telling the complete story. So we wanted to show people the true fun of Africa through games and interviews in which we discussed what we appreciated about it.
Now, in 2024, I was picked as one of the group’s leaders, and I’ve been heading it ever since and I encourage others to speak up and feel comfortable about their experiences. This round, we play to highlight the prejudice and unequal treatment that exists in our community, which includes our school, Winooski High School. We are doing this so that people can be open to what is going on with black students in Winooski.
Our voices as students may not be loud enough, but we are confident that they will have an influence not only on others but also on ourselves. It is not always easy to speak up about what you have experienced or how you feel inside, but Unheard Stories has made it much easier for me.
Because of speaking up our School put the Black Lives Matter flag up at school showing that they care. As many were protesting about the lives of black people the Black Lives Matter flag has come to represent that black lives are also important so I was very pleased to see my school put that flag.