Being Black In America

In the year 2019 if you are black and live in America there is still a very high chance of you being called a “Nigger” like we are still in the Jim Crow era of America. Things have seemed to only be getting worse and it feel as though time is going backwards and not forward. Police brutality against African Americans and Latinos has only gone up, even with all the technology and the videos that has the subjects on camera. We live in a world where Black lives still don’t matter. Even when we are given the bare minimum and we are still able to rise up and defeat the odds. Since slavery days we have been beating the odds and that won’t stop now. The chains may not be visible, but they are still there. The movement will not and won’t stop until the world realizes that Black Lives Do Matter and Forever Will!

I was born and raised in Washington, DC. When I was growing up DC was Chocolate City. We were a thriving city with black businesses everywhere. Yes, we had some bad moments, but this city was ours, so I never had an experience with a racist white person before. Even going to school in DC the majority of student were black or Latino. When I got to high school is when the schools, I went to started to become more diverse meaning more than just 1 or two white people. Up until now I have never had an up close and personal bad experience with them.

It wasn’t until last night that I had my first experience being called a “Black Nigger” and threatened to get the police called on me for just being black. The interaction happened yesterday around 11:30 pm. Me and my teammate Trisha got dropped off at my best friend’s place around 9:06. We went upstairs and then realized that we were locked out. My best friend wasn’t home she had left to go to her night job. So instead of sitting on the floor in front of the door for 3 hours we went down to the lobby to sit on the couches.

She doesn’t get off until around 11:00 pm, so until then we were just sitting down on our phones, talking. I was very tiered because I had worked that morning, so I laid my head on my bag. I was in and out of sleep the entire time, it was around 11:23 that my best friend sent a message saying she was on the way home from work. At the same time, I can hear someone outside yelling. I am not sure who this person was, but she sounded hysterical while yelling on the phone trying to tell the person she was talking to that she locked herself out.

She was yelling for about 5 minutes before someone came downstairs for her. At this time a white man gets off the elevator. As he is walking towards the door he is saying “What the fuck is this”, “What the fuck is going on here?”. As he opens the door for who me and my teammate assume is his wife. He says, “What the fuck are y’all doing here,” “Y’all don’t live here?” Me and my teammate are half sleep at the time. But she still replies we are waiting on my friend to get here because we are locked out.

He replies, “Typical black nigger shit.” At that point both me and my teammate are up. My teammate replies, “fuck you” and he turns around says I’ll call the police. He is continuously saying I am a decorated fire fighter and I have pull I’m calling the police. At that point I started to record a video and my other teammate is on the phone with my best friend to see where she is and tell her what is going on. At this time, he is still calling us “Nigger” and threatening to call the police. We are steady ignoring this man, and he finally decides to leave and get on the elevator.

I have never in my life been called a “black nigger” and threatened to get the police called on me because I am black. This is something that I see on social media every day how white people are just harassing black people for being black. But the first time I have had to deal with that situation up close. I was in shock for a minute because I just couldn’t believe he would just come over to 2 females sitting on a couch, and start harassing them. But your wife is outside yelling and causing a scene.

This was a first for me, I have never been put in that situation before, but I knew that I had to record the situation in case something did happen. So that we would have evidence to fight a case if something happened. Not everyone that has a situation like that is able to make it out unharmed. I am thankful that no harm came to me or my teammate, but this is not acceptable in any way shape or form.

So, does being black in America give you the white community a right to call me out of my name, to look at my skin and judge me, to look at my surroundings and automatically think I don’t belong. As an African American woman, am I not allowed to be able to live in a fancy place, am I not able to be a college graduate and hold multiple degrees, am I automatically an illiterate person because of the color of my skin? Is the reason you don’t want to look me in my eyes but call me a “Nigger.” How can someone be so afraid of my skin but is the aggressor making accusations and threatening my lively hood. So, my question to you is it my skin that offends you, or the way my hair curls and grows into an afro that offends you. Is the way my melanin shines on my long legs or the glow that my skins gets even after the sun goes down. You verbally attacking and threatening two woman who were minding their own business shows that there is something wrong with you and not me.

The fact that you threatened to use your work status against us, shows that all the theories that say it’s the same doctors, fire fighters, police officers, etc. that wear the Mask. This clearly shows the corrupt system that we have been fighting against all these years. This just goes to show that our fight is not over. We have a long way to go and will keep fighting until “Black Lives Matter.” We will keep fighting to hold this police officers and racist accountable for their actions. I will keep speaking up for those who can’t and for those who were victims of this type of brutality. This movement is more than a phrase this is our life and our children’s lives that we are fighting for just like our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents fought for us. It is now time to take the fight into my own hands. The torch has been lit and it’s not going out. This is not something new, but this is a new generation we are not our grandparents, but we will keep fighting just like they did. It is now time for the revolution! #BlackLivesMatter

~Below is a link to my facebook page that has the video of the man saying confidently that he is a racist, along with other things. Again keep in mind we both were half sleep so unfortunately we weren't able to get the beginning of the altercation.~