From Chalkbeat Colorado

This personal essay is part of the Chalkbeat Student Takeover: a weeklong project meant to elevate the voices of students at this pivotal moment in America. Read more from the takeover here.

It’s taken me some time to realize the true nature of race in America and the childhood that I had, even if that sad truth had always been there. See, children like me don’t get the opportunity to be naive. We aren’t granted the luxury of seeing police officers as “superheroes.” At age 6, we watch our fathers get riddled with bullets, and by age 12, we’re the ones getting shot. We find our brothers and sisters dead in lakes, without their organs and without justice for their killings. Even when it doesn’t happen to us personally, we bear a collective burden.

Read the full article here.