Freese by Mekhi

Freese by Mekhi - May 2022 Scholarship Essay

Freeze. stop being black. Freeze, stop using your voice. Freeze, stop being confident. These are the things people like me hear because of the color of their skin. With all the tragic events occurring it has made me recognize that this is real life. Every day I am faced with the public yet hidden challenge of living as an African American male. It never appeared to me the dangers that come with being black today. There are many factors that are incorporated into this lifestyle. Walking down the street, wearing certain clothing, traffic stops, and finally ME. Time after time again it seems to appear that I am the elephant in the room. When I enter a room conversation start, heads turn, eyes stare, and the reason for all of this is ME. Is it because I have green skin with purple and blue eyes? or is because I am as small as ant with an enormous head attached to my body? Neither of these crazy ideas are true but something that is true is that I am different. Different as in the pitch of my voice, different as in the complexion of my skin and different as in my walk of life. Here I am standing at six feet two inches one hundred and eighty pounds with a low voice, I do not appear to be the most inviting person. One might see me as intimidating, scary, and fearsome. although none of those adjectives are correct, that is the image that Mekhi creates. That is what the man at the convenience store sees, that is what the teachers see when I walk around school, that is what my boss sees when I clock into work, and this is what the world sees Freeze. Going through life these last couple of years I never thought that the day would come where I would have to adjust in my everyday lifestyle just to remain alive. This all sounds unnecessary, but many changes have been made to ensure my safety. I am a threat…. I am a threat to anyone of the opposite color, a threat to anyone smaller than me, a threat to police officers and authoritative figures. But I am not a threat to my family, I am not a threat to my friends, I am not a threat to Mekhi. How can this be a thing? How can I pose a threat to some people and not the other? This is because the people who see me as a threat are on the outside looking in. I am a seventeen-year-old, African American male, that was brought up the correct way and raised by a loving family. A brother, son, cousin, and nephew with nothing but positive intentions in life for me and other people. This is the image I create. The image that everyone should see. I wonder what will happen if I am driving and I get pulled over, what will happen. How do I address the officer? where I keep my hands? and how much or how little to say. I do not want my family to have to fight for justice once the trigger was pulled because of my skin color. I do not want to be pulled out of my car because the officer was having a bad day at home. This is the mindset of many black families. The day was in the works, and it had finally come. The day my family sat me down and explained to me the world we now live in. This lifestyle has been very interesting, but it has also been very challenging, stressful, and confusing. Life is often seen as an image we paint but it is very much like a story we write for the outsiders looking in. I can promise Mekhi’s story will consist of many words but one of them will not be Freeze.