Time for a Change – University of Nebraska

A Voice to Be Heard

I hit on my own personal experiences with racism during the rally.

All of us have our own stories. I’ve been called racial slanders as a young adult, but I’ve also experienced those same feelings of helplessness, dread, heartache and frustration as early as kindergarten.

Granted, I didn’t fully comprehend it at the time but as I got older, I became more cognizant of what was going on.

In seventh grade, for example, we were reading “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which is set during a period when segregation and mistreatment of people of color was very prevalent. Being one of maybe two black kids in the entire class and listening to our white classmates read off some of the racially explicit language in that book was pretty uncomfortable.

But nothing hurt more than having to hear them repeat that same language outside of the classroom, thinking it was okay because they read it in the book.

Anger, shame and complete isolation—I can still feel and remember every emotion from that time period.

Yet, the worst feeling was acceptance of the fact that no one told them it was wrong.

Situations like that set the tone for why people are afraid to come forward and speak out on these issues. If the majority is doing the wrong thing, then the minority can’t really speak out against it. So many people fall victim to that common misconception.

But the truth is your voice matters.

Even if yours is the only voice, that one voice can start the conversation to facilitate change. If you can reach one person and change one heart, you can help change the world.