Other experiences such as being followed around stores as a customer, being pulled out of a car during a ‘traffic stop’ being asked “where are the drugs” before asking for identification, being pulled over for having tinted windows, being pulled over and asked “what are you doing out here” every time I visited suburban areas outside of Milwaukee County, witnessing the use of excessive force by the police on black people in my family and community.

Sitting in lectures with all white students and hearing them lecture about how “bad” black people were when speaking about African American history made me angry.

It was the first time I was a part of a group of black people advocating for their rights.

I stopped believing the ideology of Poverty as Culture, that people were poor because that’s the way they want to be, once I learned about the ways systemic racism and oppression have directly and indirectly contributed to poverty.

Learning about the true nature of the U.S., its history and continued dehumanization and marginalization of the same vulnerable communities and populations I come from, I admit to being pessimistic about equality and freedom ever truly being accessible for black people.