Rachel+B’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2017

I wrote it when I was seven years old

I wrote that I was sorry

That it would save them money

That they would eventually move on

What was one less kid to them anyway

Can you believe that it was my suicide note written on hot pink paper

But now I just live with the demons in my head and the monsters under my bed

I could tell you that I’m fine but it would be a lie

Could you look into my eyes and see how much I want to die

How would you feel if by tonight I had committed suicide

Would you care as you stared into the eyes of my dead body

Would you even care if I told you I wasn’t a virgin

I would like to think that I am but I’m not

I’m not because I can remember how it felt

How it felt in the boy’s locker room when I told them to stop

How it felt in Ms. Wilson’s art class when I begged them to take their hands from inside of me

How it felt the first day of junior year when my best friend took advantage of my friendship

But I guess it was my fault

I guess I was asking for it

I guess I was asking for it in the 6th, 7th, 8th, hell even this year

I guess I was asking for my breasts to be groped because my nipples showed through my crop top

I guess I was asking to be anally raped because my ass was hanging out of my shorts

And do you want me to tell the girls that are being sex trafficked that they are asking for it too

And if you want to say yes then I guess you’re just another douchebag who likes grabbing women by the pussy

Would you care if I told you what I saw on the streets

Or how the refugees are treated like a disease

Would you care if I told you I wrote a letter to someone

Would it matter if it said, “Mr. President, my people are dying in the streets, please quit tweets and hear the cries in the fields, Mr. President please look up and see how ‘your’ country still bleeds“

But no all he did was reply with a lie that said, “Sweetheart I’m sorry we don’t live in a paradise. But I’m not sorry that the fields are covered in ICE and I’ll stop the tweets when the streets are clean and America is finally quarantined“

I wish that letter was real and I actually tell him how I feel

How I am done with the questions

Are you legal

Are you even American

Do you support ISIS I am done with the questions and the aggression

I am done with a society that uses tension to stop the oppression

I’m tired of living in a society that says ALL LIVES MATTER but apparently not the ones killed by the police

I am done living in a society that calls terrorism for everything but can’t even open their eyes to how many children are being sold for sex

I’m a tired of seeing white people talk about racism or cultural appropriation when they don’t know the first thing about oppression or assimilation

I am so freaking done with white people dressing like black people but ignoring the meaning behind Black History Month

I am done with people eating their precious strawberries but not understanding the blood, sweat, and tears that went into picking it

I am done with seeing girls wearing headdresses at Coachella but leave no appreciation for the Native Americans sent to reservations

I so, so fucking sick of going to a school where the so called elitists and the pretentious Foothill Dragon Press say Foothill is so diverse when really we are whiter than a vanilla freaking oreo

But because our society is so ruined Donald Trump doesn’t need to build a wall because we have managed to do that already

But you know what I say, screw that wall and fuck society

Because I want to live in an America, no society, where my daughter won’t be bullied for her skin colour like I was

I want a society where my son need to conform in order to fit in with the social norms

I want a society where my children don’t have to worry about anyone ever putting their hands on them like I am

I want a society where love is an experience not a political statement

I want a society that takes five steps forward not three decades back

I know that we can do it

Not our parents or teachers, US

We will be the change for a new society

And if you weren’t paying any attention right now

Just remember this…

Fill your lives with moments not things

Feed your soul with hope and truth

Always walk with your head held high

And like Kendrick said “Be Humble”