In 2006, my father was shot and killed. At 26-years-old, he left two children to be raised by a mother barely breaking 27. The article wrote he was dead before he hit the ground. I can imagine our relationship from the singular photograph we have together. He’s holding me up to his chest smiling. I imagine he was showering me with affection, as fathers do with their daughters. In middle school, I started to realize how different my experience was. Until then, I wasn’t present for parent-teacher conferences. At my first one I realized how deafening the empty seat next to my mother was. How my teacher's eyes darted toward her and I, pitying the single mother. Soon I grew tired of the pity, so I immersed myself in everything I could about my father. So I could be as close to him as possible. I learned about his journaling. There I found a love for writing. When I wrote, it was to relate to him. I wrote stories first, then poetry, then I learned to love writing articles.This appreciation for journalism motivated me to apply and audition for Oakland School for the Arts. I auditioned for the literary department after writing an article about gun violence. After enrolling, my talent translated into my English classes. My experience with poetry helped me write creative stories, and my love for journalism assisted my academic writing. The space my fathers’ death left helped me become a talented writer.

As a native of Oakland I had to stay diligent to avoid violence. Growing up, my experience with gun violence was not unique. Every single one of my childhood friends had a relative who either died from a gunshot wound, or was jailed for shooting someone. When I was 12-years-old, I realized that becoming comfortable with this phenomenon was a side-effect the pandemic of violence brought. Two years after this realization, the Parkland school shooting took place. It was the first time the conversation around gun violence was being had on an international scale. I was asked to travel to Washington D.C, to the March for Our Lives. I, with my organization, the East Oakland Youth Development Center, traveled across the country to talk about our community. At 13-years-old, I I started my activism in the nation's capital. We were asked to write every day about our experience protesting gun violence, I used writing as a medium for activism. It was a year later when I revisited these reflections to write my speech for the NRA protest. At 14-years-old, I stood in front of the NRA building and told the protestors my experience with gun violence. Losing my father made me predisposed to the failings of the community. This speech awarded me with opportunities to represent the fatherless children of Oakland communities. I was interviewed by Pam Moore, a KRON news journalist about the rampant brutality that plagued inner cities. I also talked with Congresswoman Barbra Lee to ensure changes were being made for urban youth. Here I was reassured that she was laboriously working toward securing more educational opportunities for the children of California. I intend to keep working at this problem using my writing. Accumulating exposure to keep the current momentum surrounding inner city brutality and its conversation.