There Are so Many More

Photo From: CBS News 

There is a wall, you know. 

A wall that holds all the names of the people who died in Vietnam.

Over 57,000 names on that wall. 

They're there because they were lost too early

And fought for what they believed was right.

It's a beautiful site, 

But where is their wall?

The names of the people who died innocently. 

The people who were walking home,

Free of any crime,

And died because their skin color made them a threat?

Where is their wall?

You know, I am only 20,

But I have lived long enough to experience racism for 20 more years worth. 

I have seen it within my friends who I would call family, 

And I have seen it through the media

Where they don't show you everything.

I have read it through books and articles.

I have seen it with my eyes and ears.

I don't want to live in a world where I can say that I see and hear this.

I don't want my future children to either.

I don't want to constantly worry that every time my lover steps foot outside the door,

He will be pulled over for being Black. 

I don't want that. 

This world doesn't want that.

They don't want to fear that eventually being Black can earn you 20 years in prison.

They don't want to see tear gas crumble the lungs of their family more than a cigarette.

Because one of those was an option, and one of them wasn't.

We watch our brothers and sister walk along the streets 

With their fists in the air,

Praying for a change. 

For a moment that people recognize them as humans, too.

We stand in front of police officers, 

Begging for them to not see us by our appearance 

But by our hearts. 

They say that racism is no more, 

But race still matters in the U.S.A.

If t didn't,

We wouldn't hear names like 

George Floyd,

Breonna Taylor,

Trayvon Martin, 

or 

Emmett Till. 

And those are only a portion,

A very small portion, 

Of the names of the victims of racism. 

There is a wall, you know. 

A wall that holds all the names of the people who died in Vietnam.

They're there because they were lost too early

And fought for what they believed was right.

And yes, Vietnam was a war,

But who's to say that what we are living isn't one either?

Because Vietnam may have had thousands of names, 

But people can only remember 7 names of the race victims.

But there are so many more names of people who lost their life because of the color of their skin.

There are so many more names that we haven't heard of yet.