I am a 31 year old married mother of one. I am able to move about society seemingly unnoticed, ensconced in the privilege of my whiteness, never worried about my existence and safety. And it’s unfair, and it’s unconscionable, that there are millions of people who are not afforded the simple right to exist on this Earth without fear.

It’s 2015 and we’re in a state of social crisis. A social crisis no one wants to admit is actually, really, truly, happening. Hidden behind the facade of social media, couched in their unabashed yet unacknowledged white privilege, hatred is seeping into our daily lives. It’s the memes you share without a single passing thought, it’s the right-wing conservative propaganda that you post without even a hint of irony, it’s in the micro aggressions that run through your head when you see a person of color encroaching just a tiny bit too close for your comfort. The sharing and propogating of meaningless and inflammatory totems that show one’s true self. The “I’m not racist, I have black friends.”

It has to stop.

I have one life on this earth, and I’ve spent 31 years vascillating between what I believe to be right and truthful and speaking my mind on it, only to be shut down. It’s because the people who hear and read my words lack the ability to do so with an open mind and heart; it’s not easy to open yourself to opposing schools of thought, and maybe it’s the bleeding heart liberal in me or the Libran blood coursing through my veins, but I can’t leave this earth having never had the courage to speak my feelings, to be a voice that rises above the fray.

This is my small corner of the universe. I have exceedingly ambitious goals and aspirations for what I can accomplish. I hope you will join me on this journey with a kind heart and likeminded spirit.