Dear John Lewis,

I do not think I will ever read about our history and feel my body getting heated as I am overcome with rage and anger. To really read first hand about what you and our people went through just to gain their basic rights is absurd. Our people were looking for help in the government to grant them their voting rights while the government was doing everything in their power to deny this request. So the million dollar question is WHY are we asking the same government that promotes and was founded on “liberty and freedom for all” to granted us our basic human rights. Why is it even a question that you should treat everyone with respect? Why should the color of someone’s skin, something they CANNOT  control nor change effect how they are treated? And with all the research and evaluation, the answer is very clear. How can you ask for rights if you are not considered as equal to White people? 

Black power.

So yes the narrative has changed since the 1960s but it’s not perfect. To most we are STILL looked at as inferior, we are STILL being dehumanized, we are STILL being painted as a threat because the color of our skin, and we are STILL being discriminated in the legal system. Police brutality is real, misrepresentation of Black people in the media is real, rigid stereotypes given to Black people are real, mass incarceration of Black people is real, all of these problems are real and are dire need of change.