Solidarity, the key to change and development.

Standing before a congregation delivering a speech has been my greatest fear but someone needs to defend the blacks and put an end to racism and that someone was definitely me. Everyone applauded me and I knew there was no going back again. I really wanted to run off that stage but my feet were so glued to the floor.

I started off by saying “Black Lives matter”. Everyone started cheering and that gave me the courage. I had faith that I wouldn’t collapse that moment.

 Then I continued “Racism is something that has existed for a very long time, this we know for sure. Passed down for generations to generations and led to the mistreatment and disregard for our fellow humans. We, the blacks, in collaboration with the some non-racist whites are ready to face the government and every other racist out there until there’s a stop to this maltreatment”. The people started applauding which gave me the time wonder about how I’m giving a speech I didn’t prepare for.  

As silenced filled the hall, it was definitely time to continue. “Blacks are dying due to unfair judgement. We are scared to go out as we don’t our fate as the law doesn’t entirely protect us.  Our children can no longer go to school without being bullied in one way or the other. The worst part is that, the so-called school authorities are racists.”

“Yes!” “True!” were all I could hear coming from the crowd.

“And this need to stop” I said with a very loud voice and the cheering continued deafening this time. I waited until there was total silence in the hall.

Crying while giving a speech wasn’t the best way to encourage and lead people no matter how sad you felt. I held my tears giving it no way of escape but you could definitely tell from my voice that I felt like crying.

“I was in the mall one day getting some groceries, hearing the voice a little girl crying like she’s been beaten up attracted me and I wanted   to know what was happening. So I entered through a thin door into a large room where I saw a girl been bullied by a guy whom I believed should be older than her with a year. I decided to listen since they didn’t know I was standing by the door. He told the girl “You’re a black and you don’t deserve to live, you don’t deserve to be happy. You are meant to be a slave to us”. This got me very angry as he was a white and that was pure racism which was so visible in the lives of teenagers.” I said. This made everyone have this angry look. If I didn’t say what happened next, they would have gone out to search for the guy and beat him up.

So I continued “I walked up to him and gave him a slap which made him fall to the floor and peed on his pant.” The atmosphere seem to have calmed down a bit and that was better chance to continue.

“I got the girl out of there but we didn’t go without making him a laughing stock and I had to give him the warning that made him shake in fear. I told him I was a private investigator and I’ll be watching out for him, so he shouldn’t bully anyone else especially behaving as a racist or else I was going to drown him in a river.” I said. Everyone laughed as they knew as I was no private investigator but that didn’t stopped them from applauding because I took a very brave step and acted courageously.

“Enough is enough” I said with a loud voice and the cheering increased. I didn’t continue until I was sure that the hall was in complete silence that you could hear a pin drop.

“My point here is that, we should never agree with racism and it’s high time the government started doing something about that. We don’t want our children or the next generation to be faced with such hardship and ill treatment. So we shall continue this protest as to make the government wake up to reality as the blacks will no longer be quiet to every form of racism. ” I said.

I looked at one side of the crowd and saw a woman crying. I knew she was going through a lot as she has been crying since I started my speech and it would be good if we could hear her story. So I walked down the stage and eyes of the crowd followed me. I approached the woman and said “Would you please join me on the stage? We want to hear your story”.

It didn’t even take up to a second that the woman totally agreed. I held by her arm and supported her with myself as she was too weak to walk on her own. A seat was already kept on the stage for her to seat on. I guided her until she sat on the seat then I gave the microphone to speak.

“Black lives matter!” She shouted and everybody clapped and cheered thunderously. The hall has never been that way since I walked in. Now I could very much feel her pain and I believe everyone did too. I found myself clapping and cheering too.

She then continued “My son was falsely accused of stealing a $60 dollar item in a mall as the item was dropped intentionally by his classmate who was bullying him. He was already weak and tired from being beaten up by his racist classmate. He body was sore but none of the managers cared instead they started beating him up.  ”. She paused for a while to arrange her next sentenced also, stopping herself from weeping. The hall was so quiet, some people had an angry face while the others were in tears already.

“I rushed to the mall where people said he was. I couldn’t believe what I saw. My son was dying, I rushed and I covered him with my body as no mother can bear seeing her son and do nothing. They stopped as I protected him. I screamed for a while which attracted people and made everywhere quiet. I told them I was going to pay them $120 dollar which I did so they left him. I called an ambulance and they took him to the hospital” She said. I could no longer hold back my tears. My tears kept flowing from my eyes like a river with no border as it was a very heartbreaking experience.

So she continued speaking “As I was about to follow the ambulance, I heard a man say “That’s how the blacks are. They are thieves and very violent so they need to get beaten to death”. He can’t talk about my son that way. He was the manager and he was among the people throwing blows at my son. I walked up to him and gave him a blow. I immediately asked for an evidence that my son stole the item. I know my son very much, he doesn’t steal and he’s a well-mannered gentleman. After demanding for an evidence which they couldn’t give, I sued them to court as my son was seen on the CCTV footage being bullied, beaten up and nothing was done about it. The manager has been arrested after paying for the treatment of my son at the hospital and the mall has been temporarily closed down. ” Everyone kept on clapping as the she finished speaking.

I took the microphone from and started speaking “Black lives matter.” The hall turned silent as the people continued weeping, feeling the pain of the woman who just spoke. “Thank you so much ma for sharing with us and please know that we are always here to assist you in any way we can”. As I was about continuing my statement, someone stood up and decided to donate for her but that wasn’t the only person. Others gave financial assistance, expensive and capable lawyers who are able to win any court case and someone even decided to sponsor her son till he finished high school. That was really a rare opportunity. I could finally see the woman smile. She didn’t even know how to say thank you as everyone just kept on donating including myself. She just started crying again and I hugged her which relieved her a bit.  

“Thank you very much as you guys have shown sympathy towards her and also donated to help her in this challenging moment of her life. Henceforth, we won’t accept any form of ill treatment. If the government doesn’t do something, we’ll fight and protect ourselves. ” I said and walked out of the stage with the woman with a standing ovation.

I took the woman to my house, got her new clothes and gave her a room to sleep in as it was already late for her to go back home. The next morning, we visited her son in the hospital and he was very happy to see his mother. I gave them some privacy while I spent time talking to my manager, Mr. Brown concerning the woman’s case. He told me about how the corrupt and racist cops tried covering up the case but luckily enough that didn’t work as the woman’s story have already spread like a wildfire.

By the next week, the boy got discharged from the hospital and he was taken to court where he explained what happened. His classmates that were involved in bullying were expelled from school, the mall was then handed over to the government and the woman was receiving a monthly commission of 25% from each profit gotten. The manager was sentenced to jail for 5 years. The government decided to take a step forward by ensuring racism stops for good. A law was made that any form of racist act is punishable by the law with a minimum of two years depending on the situation of things.

Everyone was happy. The blacks and whites started living happily as racism was no longer seen and now there’s a better and safer place for our children to live in. Change is constant and this is what I believe in right now. No one believed things would turn out this way but it did.