Why don’t you do that they ask. Aren't you supposed to do that they say. Can I get a break? Why am I Entitled to do something just because of the color of my skin?

I guess you could say I’m different. We’re all different if you think about it. Being different is good too. They ask me “Amari you do that because you’re black.”  I've always started to wonder where everyone got these stereotypes. Over the years I've learned to deal with them though. My friends even use stereotypes sometimes. They are my friends, though, what am I supposed to do?  I never understood were they got these. Do they get them in movies or TV shows?

Over the summer there was a shooting in New York that was reported on the news. The shooter was a young colored man. The next few days got to me over the summer. This story really got to me. Just because I’m colored too does that mean people will look at me the way they do the man who killed another innocent man on the news? I worked at the YMCA over that summer and for the next few days I just looked around the camp and I thought to myself do these kids or do my fellow coworkers look at me different just because of what happened on TV. Do the parents not want me being around their children because of the news story? I carried these thoughts with me for the rest of the summer.

Kindergarten through now I’ve always been one of few black people in my school district. I still wonder to this day why. Some people in society would say most black people live in the hood or the ghetto. I still don't understand either. What happened over the summer was just one of many incidents and it still gets to me this day. Now I think of stereotypes all of the time. When I'm walking around town or in school I feel like people look at me differently. They may even think of me as a future killer because of what happened over the summer.

I really wish people could look at me differently or in another way. I don't want to be seen as a criminal or a thug. I want be seen as person who feels welcome in this world. I feel like a victim in this world. I’m hoping for change.