Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racism Works

“Thank you to the Anderson, De Dios, and Sandoval-Moshenberg families. I appreciate this opportunity to speak my truth

Before I begin I would like to have a moment of silence to acknowledge the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Manahoac, Nacotchtank, Piscataway First Nations tribes on which we are standing, working, and learning in today.

For those who don’t know me, I am Jocelyn McCullough

I am a proud and unapologetically Black girl in America

I am a scholar

I am a student leader at Justice High School

I am the great grand-daughter of a Tuskegee airman

I am the granddaughter of Black Panthers who were at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963- 57 years ago

I am also the great cousin of Emmet Till who like George Floyd was murdered because he was a Black Male

I am an anti-racist

And I am here to tell you that WE ARE DONE DYING

WE ARE DONE DYING At the hands of the police

WE ARE DONE DYING On Video

WE ARE DONE DYING Without accountability

          I am here for 
                Breonna Taylor
                Antwon Rose 
                Alton Sterling 
                Trayvon Martin
                Laquan Mcdonald
                Sandra Bland

and countless others who have been killed at the hands of police
whose names will never make it on the news

I am here today because my father’s, mother’s and little brother’s life matters as much as any white person’s life

I am here today because every Brown and Black man, woman and child deserves equal protection under the law of THESE United States of America

I am here 57 years later, just 10 miles from where my grandparents marched alongside freedom fighters still asking this same question

When will America stop tolerating injustice, police brutality, economic oppression, and racism?

That is who I am and why I am here.

I know you are here because you want to be the generation that fixes the problem as opposed to passing it on to your children and grandchildren.

As I continue to speak and while the sun still shines every day ask yourself why you are here and what are you willing to do?

As Sweet Honey in the Rock sang (in Ella’s Song):

We who believe in freedom cannot rest

We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes

Until the killing of black men, Black mothers’ sons
Is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers’ sons

We believe Black lives matter everywhere whether it be in your child’s classroom or on their little league soccer team.

Black lives matter every day and everywhere.

Black lives matter when people of privilege pull their kids out of their local public school to go to one with less people of color

Black lives matter when parents know their children’s curriculum is sugar-coating history but don’t care enough to use their white privilege to say anything about it.

Black lives matter when the same prison system that was used to keep Black people in chains is now profiting off of detaining immigrants.

Black lives matter when their white children don’t have more than a few Black or Latino students in their AAP, AP or IB classes.

Black lives matter when Black children are expected to close the achievement gap as if something is wrong with THEM and not the racist and classist education system.

Black lives matter when you are proud of living in a diverse community but not in any way are supporting people of color in your community.

Black lives matter when creating schools and highways named after people who wanted to keep Black people in chains.