Help.

Submitted into Contest #45 in response to: Write a story about solidarity.... view prompt

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General

Humanity is cruel and prideful. An unkind scattering of dust in the air. For that is what we are in reality, dirt. Dirt that only deserves to be trodden on. I know this from experience and I should not be hurting anyones feelings, because I say this as a human as well. I just didn't think that people, all the same yet so different, would come to the level of hurting their own kind. It seems as if we are bored with hurting all others, and decided to stoop to this level. I am ashamed.

In the world's eyes my two friends and I are in need of being hated. Why? You tell me. Is it merely the fact that our skin is a shade or two darker or that our faces might be shaped differently? Now-a-days people crave to be unique, yet shun those who have a slight different complexion! How in any world does that make ANY kind of sense?

My life long friends and I had met in college as roommates. It was kind of comical that three woman, all born in different countries and had different cultures, were living under one roof.

Maria was mexican, a partier and just plain fun. Se was Korean, quiet, and the friend that any one can confide in and everyone has and loves.

Soon we were all fast friends. Kindred spirits if you will. Maria was the life of the party and Se was the quiet best friend we need and love. We had deep conversations of love and loss daily, we tried eating every meal with each other, (that didn't always work out,) and when we wanted to share a secret we would confide in one another. I have never had better friends than Maria and Seo-yun.

The first event that made me question the actions of humanity (in this story anyways,) was when Se came home sobbing. She had had her first day of work at a cafe downtown. I remember the meek opening of the front door and the almost silent footsteps walking in. She had her long and shiny majestic black hair tied in a braided bun, and her face was looking at the slab wooden floor.

"Se, what's wrong?" I had asked, using her nickname.

"A man at the cafe didn't want me to serve him. He said I needed to go back to my factory in China..." She trailed off in tears. That man made me angrier than I had ever been before. How could a human being, just like Se, hurt her like that? He wouldn't even let her serve him? That was nasty. Some people don't even know that racism still exists, and yet we are getting destroyed. Killed, emotionally burned, and more. Think about that and the sense that makes.

The next time it happened to Maria. I was with her, in an old hand-me-down type shop. I was getting some items for Se because she had a broken leg at the time, and it was hard for her to get out.

A woman walked up next to us and scanned the folded clothing. She picked up a shirt and set it back down in the wrong spot, unfolded.

With her kind heart she had, Maria picked up the shirt after the woman had taken a step away, folded it up, and placed it back. If it was a person that looked like herself the woman probably would have smiled and walked on, but just because of the woman's regally sinful nature, and straight up disgusting attitude, the woman had to comment...nastily. I don't even want to put it on this page, but just know this...it was horrific. Imagine someone insulting your very own nature, and being, and appearance, and acting as if you were a scrap on the floor, then times that by ten.

I wanted to hurt the lady, physically, emotionally, or mentally, I didn't care. She had just hurt my best friend, and Maria would live with it until the day she died. She would question herself and always wonder. I will never know to the degree she was emotionally injured, but I felt some of it, and just the fraction that I knew of was too much for me to bear. Instead, I calmly took Maria by the hand and walked out of the building. In the car she sobbed. She is so selfless, she didn't just sob for herself, but instead for her people. What they had to go through daily. And I sobbed with her.

As an African American I have been hurt. Snipping under-the-breath comments, small physical jabs, but mostly its what people do to others in my family. My mother, father, sister, and brother live in Alabama. Although the state has calmed its racism more recently, the majority of people act before they think.

Constantly, every day, I sit down and pray for those around me. For those hurt, those hurting, those not being loved, those hated, the ones who have it worse then most, or even worse then all. This inhumane behavior will be stopped. People won't be able to thrive with this going on. I have never been more angry, shocked, and hurt by people. This is injustice. This needs to end, now. I hurt for everyone.

The reason people are saying Black Lives Matter right now is not out of pride, they aren't saying Black Lives matter more, its just out of solidarity. Its out of the need of it. The reason people don't say white lives matter is because they don't experience as much negativity in that regard. People are struggling. People are drowning in hate. Help them, take them by the arm and offer comfort. Love on them. Humans die without love. Maybe not always physically, and I guess that's why we don't always get attention for it, but they die emotionally, little bits of their hope and heart get torn until they are left in the dust in want. We need help, that's why I write this. As a plea, no, a cry for help. Help me, help us, help this world.


June 06, 2020 00:13

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2 comments

Aqsa Malik
11:28 Jun 19, 2020

Hey! I'm here from critique circle :D Firstly, I loved how you brought out the profound emotions and thoughts that can go through a persons mind when they experience racism- you illustrated that really well in the paragraph where Maria is insulted by the woman. You also did a really great job of highlighting the inner thoughts of the protagonist at the end, and it made me really hurt for her, which I assume was what you were going for, so awesome! Just a few things I noticed that I think could help in your future works: -In the beg...

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Elaina Goodnough
17:07 Jun 19, 2020

Thanks so much! I will definitely edit the places you talked about. Thanks so much!

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