My friends and I joke that I have a bit of a “social justice Spidey Sense.” (Quick Marvel sidebar: I’ll be the first to say that I think the new Black Panther movie is so righteous. Yaaaaas.) Whenever I see a homeless individual on the street, I make eye contact and say hello. Most people don’t even say hello, so something as small as saying hello has such big potential. What I do is like the butterfly effect, except that my actions can actually fix the world.
And trust me, it needs my help. Like, have you seen how all of the South just lumps Muslims together as one bad blob of people? It’s disgusting. Not to unleash my Boston Latin School education on you (don’t worry, BLS is part of Boston Public Schools, so I know about socioeconomic adversity), but "y'all Southerners" once were super segregated — so you don’t really get to participate in political discourse.
To change the world, you have to experience it. I leave the Harvard bubble. I take the Red Line to Park Street, maybe catch a movie at AMC Loews (Get Out, am I right?). And while I’m there, I make sure to politely say hello to every African-American person I see—reparations have to start somewhere! Sure, I don’t go past Park Street toward Fields Corner on the T, or even think about getting on that godforsaken Orange Line, but I don’t have to. I’ve seen enough to know that I’m complicit in a racist society. And that means a lot.
Sorry for all the rambling here. There are just too many problematic things in this world! Good luck fighting the good fight, people! As for me, this warrior has got to unwind, watch some TV, and pencil in some self-care. Season 3 of The Wire, here I come!
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