“What do you want to do when you’re older”? I remember the first time I actually thought about it, I was 16 and starting to apply to colleges. I thought to myself where would I be in 10 years? Where did I want to be? I was probably one out of a couple of people I knew that actually knew who they wanted to be. I don’t know how, I just did. I found my passion at a very young age, law. My major is history on a pre-law track. I'm in the 3+3 law program so I plan to graduate law school by 23 and practice corporate law for a couple of years until I can afford to start my own firm and/or go into civil rights litigation or criminal defense. The reason why is because of where I am from. Living on Long Island since birth (just over 18 years), the systematic racism there is unfortunately very real and apparent. It was named America’s most racist suburb by yahoo and a study done by ERASE racism found Long Island is the most segregated suburb in the Northeast United States. I plan on using my (future) knowledge in litigation to propose bills and possibly sue town hamlets in my plan to desegregate the schools on Long Island. I then plan on going into local politics around the age of 40. My goal is to be elected into the County executive’s office, Senator, or U.S house of representatives for New York’s second congressional district which stretches along 25% of Long Island’s South shore. After my kids leave for college, I want to leave politics and go to Haiti. I want to practice law there and help however I can, whether it be providing pro-bono immigration services or helping with the prison backlog. Once I learn more about the Haitian government I want to use my family’s property to open a school and be an activist for civil liberties in Haiti and work to dismantle the stigma of Haitians. I’m a strong believer in being able to give back to your community and making things better for future generations. I want Haitians and Long Islanders to be able to talk about me in a positive light and maybe have my name written in history. Haiti deserves more and so do the minority students of Long Island.

My first encounter with law enforcement had to be when I was about 9. I was sleeping peacefully in my bed. Dreaming about barbies and rainbows or whatever you dream about as a little girl. I was shaken awake by the sound of my door frame collapsing. The words “Nassau County Police Department” echoed through the house. Loud men marched up the stairs and flung open every door in sight until they got to mine. Suddenly, I was staring at a gun and a flashlight. He yelled in something that seemed like a foreign language until I came to my senses and realized he was telling me to “get up, get the f**k up”. He dragged me by my Hannah Montana pajamas onto the cold hard sidewalk. That night was the last night I saw my cousin. That year was the death of Tamir Rice. I will always remember the feeling of shock I had watching Tamir's death on CNN, It was traumatizing to watch because of the similar situation I had been through a month before. I started to lose my breathe at the sight of it. I saw me in him. I couldn’t face it. But 3 years later came Sandra Bland. At the young age of 12 I decided that I couldn’t let what happened to me define me. I didn’t want the system to swallow me. Their deaths pushed me into wanting to be a reckoning force within the Justice System. So, I did the work. I looked at the facts of the case and instead of turning on nickelodeon and watching some after school cartoons, I turned on the news to see if there were any new details about the case. It seems like I’ve been repeating the same routine for the past 5 years. Watch the cellphone or dashcam footage, wait for details, watch the case. It’s exhausting. By now I've been able to understand that you can’t conclude why things are being done the way they are today, without knowledge of history. So, before I could understand why police officers were seemingly “getting away with” killing people of color I had to do my research. I listened to historians talk about it, I watched documentaries, I read books like The New Jim Crow, Becoming & Between the world & me, so I could learn about the history of our country, African Americans and systemic racism. I took free philosophy-based college courses so that I was able to think critically and be able to articulate multiple perspectives. I knew that this information was crucial to having informed debates and making conscious based decisions on affairs in the world today such as politics and civil rights. By this time, The George Floyd Trial has begun and so has my routine. My spring break will be spent sitting through the opening & closing, the cross and directs and the evidence presented to make my own conscious based decision even though it is powerless. I’ll also be awaiting the daily debate with my right-wing government teacher. My hope is that I’ll be a judge or a senator someday and that the decision I render will have a powerful impact on communities that have been for so long ignored. When I first made that decision at 12 years old to study law, I said that I would never be in the system. But today at 18 I'm proud to say that I AM the system and I must act now. African Americans and Latinos comprise 29% of the U.S. population BUT make up 57% of the U.S. prison population. Just 5% of all lawyers are Black while 13.4% of the U.S. population is Black. We need more people of color in the legal field. If not now, then when? I have great role models to look up to. Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, Letitia James and Ayanna Pressley. This year I have achieved so many of my goals like building a business, having a paid government internship, working closely with my local officials to make sure that people disproportionately affected by covid in my community have access to vaccines, testing and more. Advising closely on police task force discussions and school resource officer meetings by sharing my own experiences and being a representative for my student body. I’ve worked hard as the president of Nubians United to ensure that my classmates have access to networking opportunities and perfecting my debate skills as captain of my mock trial team 2 years in a row. I'm proud of myself so far but I still have so much more to accomplish. I believe that I can change the world by being the change. I just need the tools.

Growing up in a predominantly white community I often have dealt with micro aggressions about my hair, long acrylic nails, comments like "omg I tanned! still not as dark as you though LOL" and "You havent listened to this new rap song? How are you even black?' are sentences that are all too familiar to me. These words penetrated me like a bullet. I thought to myself am I black enough? being criticized by my white peers lit a fire inside of me. I decided that I needed time alone to find myself as a black girl and a haitian girl. One of the experiences that I will always remember is one of my best friends in the beginning of high school constantly spoke in AAVE. she referred to me as her "homegirl" amongst other things. She invited me to her house and when I walked in it's like I met a completely different person LOL. She dropped all the AAVE and spoke in plain normal english around her family and other friends. It was funny but also an eye opener. Thats why this meme resonates with me so much.

Dear Beautiful Melanated Princess, You probably don’t know me, but I know you. I’m you at 16 and in your senior year. You will soon realize who you are, and you will be so much happier realizing who Tamara is. I know that you see the girls at school with silky straight hair or beautiful bouncy curls while you have a 4c texture and are prone to masking that with relaxers. Ask yourself why? Mom tell us that it’s just “too hard to maintain” because she’s been wearing them her whole life but babygirl, these relaxers are erasing your identity. Soon you’ll realize that the 6 hour washdays are worth it because they are what makes you, you. I know that you feel so alone during this time. You’ve spent your whole life dependent on friendships for happiness. You used them to feel a sense of security because it was too hard to love yourself. This will all change in about 2 years, give it some time. I know you won’t believe me when I say that in the future you’ve become everything you wanted to be. You worked 3 jobs to buy your own car, you had the courage to leave a toxic workplace, you’re on the path to going to college. You do it all so gracefully and I’m so proud of you. A part of your growth has been recognizing your race and your heritage. I guess I could call it finding your blackness, now that has always been difficult in a predominantly Hispanic school I know. Over the years we have loved music and in 10th grade we start to explore more kinds of music. Kompa which is Haitian music that you hadn’t really been fond of up until then, then we started digging into the pillars of black music like Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, New Edition , Debarge and etc. Their music has healed you when you were in need of it and built up your strength. You have found yourself brown skinned girl. I think the hardest part of being us is that everything we deal with , we only have each other. I know that there’s times you lay in bed, in silence, letting your thoughts consume you. I remember the times you laid in bed crying to sleep wishing not to wake up. You were 13 not being able to imagine a life after 14, life in the high school or in college. You didn’t know if your depression would swallow you before you were old enough to get a job, drive or graduate. You were surviving, not living. Today I’m happy to say that we are going to an HBCU to major in history and become a lawyer. A part of you still lives inside me but we don’t see each other often. I love you and thank you for everything you taught me. Sincerely, A Beautiful Melanated Queen.

My first encounter with law enforcement had to be when I was about 9. I was sleeping peacefully in my bed. Dreaming about barbies and rainbows or whatever you dream about as a little girl. I was shaken awake by the sound of my door frame collapsing. The words “Nassau County Police Department” echoed through the house. Men marched up the stairs and flung open every door in sight until they got to mine. Suddenly, I was staring at a gun and a flashlight. He yelled in something that seemed like a foreign language until I came to my senses and realized he was telling me to “get up, get the f**k up”. He dragged me by my Hannah Montana pajamas onto the cold hard sidewalk. That night was the last night I saw my cousin. That year was the death of Tamir Rice. I will always remember the feeling of shock I had watching Tamir's death on CNN, It was traumatizing to watch because of the similar situation I had been through a month before. I started to lose my breathe at the sight of it. I saw me in him. I couldn’t face it. But 3 years later came Sandra Bland. At 12 I decided that I couldn’t let what happened to me define me. I didn’t want the system to swallow me. Their deaths pushed me into wanting to be a reckoning force within the Justice System. So, I did the work. I looked at the facts of the case and instead of turning on nickelodeon and watching some after school cartoons, I turned on the news to see if there were any new details about the case. By this time, The George Floyd Trial has begun and so has my routine. My spring break will be spent sitting through the opening & closing, the cross and directs and the evidence presented to make my own conscious based decision even though it is powerless. My hope is that I’ll be a judge or a senator someday and that the decision I render will have a powerful impact on communities that have been for so long ignored. When I first made that decision at 12 years old to study law, I said that I would never be in the system. But today at 18 I'm proud to say that I AM the system and I must act now. This year I have achieved so many of my goals like having a paid government internship, working closely with my local officials to make sure that people disproportionately affected by covid in my community have access to vaccines, testing and more. Advising closely on police task force discussions and school resource officer meetings by sharing my own experiences and being a representative for my student body. I’ve worked hard as the president of Nubians United to ensure that my classmates have access to networking opportunities and perfecting my debate skills as captain of my mock trial team 2 years in a row. I read books like The New Jim Crow, Becoming & Between the world & me, so I could learn about the history of our country, African Americans and systemic racism. I took free philosophy-based college courses so that I was able to think critically and be able to articulate multiple perspectives. I'm proud of myself so far but I still have so much more to accomplish. I believe that I can change the world by being the change. I just need the tools.

My first encounter with law enforcement had to be when I was about 9. I was sleeping peacefully in my bed. Dreaming about barbies and rainbows or whatever you dream about as a little girl. I was shaken awake by the sound of my door frame collapsing. The words “Nassau County Police Department” echoed through the house. Loud men marched up the stairs and flung open every door in sight until they got to mine. Suddenly, I was staring at a gun and a flashlight. He yelled in something that seemed like a foreign language until I came to my senses and realized he was telling me to “get up, get the f**k up”. He dragged me by my Hannah Montana pajamas onto the cold hard sidewalk. That night was the last night I saw my cousin. That year was the death of Tamir Rice. I will always remember the feeling of shock I had watching Tamir's death on CNN, It was traumatizing to watch because of the similar situation I had been through a month before. I started to lose my breathe at the sight of it. I saw me in him. I couldn’t face it. But 3 years later came Sandra Bland. At the young age of 12 I decided that I couldn’t let what happened to me define me. I didn’t want the system to swallow me. Their deaths pushed me into wanting to be a reckoning force within the Justice System. So, I did the work. I looked at the facts of the case and instead of turning on nickelodeon and watching some after school cartoons, I turned on the news to see if there were any new details about the case. It seems like I’ve been repeating the same routine for the past 5 years. Watch the cellphone or dashcam footage, wait for details, watch the case. It’s exhausting. By now I've been able to understand that you can’t conclude why things are being done the way they are today, without knowledge of history. So, before I could understand why police officers were seemingly “getting away with” killing people of color I had to do my research. I listened to historians talk about it, I watched documentaries, I read books like The New Jim Crow, Becoming & Between the world & me, so I could learn about the history of our country, African Americans and systemic racism. I took free philosophy-based college courses so that I was able to think critically and be able to articulate multiple perspectives. I knew that this information was crucial to having informed debates and making conscious based decisions on affairs in the world today such as politics and civil rights. By this time, The George Floyd Trial has begun and so has my routine. My spring break will be spent sitting through the opening & closing, the cross and directs and the evidence presented to make my own conscious based decision even though it is powerless. I’ll also be awaiting the daily debate with my right-wing government teacher. My hope is that I’ll be a judge or a senator someday and that the decision I render will have a powerful impact on communities that have been for so long ignored. When I first made that decision at 12 years old to study law, I said that I would never be in the system. But today at 18 I'm proud to say that I AM the system and I must act now. African Americans and Latinos comprise 29% of the U.S. population BUT make up 57% of the U.S. prison population. Just 5% of all lawyers are Black while 13.4% of the U.S. population is Black. We need more people of color in the legal field. If not now, then when? I have great role models to look up to. Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, Letitia James and Ayanna Pressley. This year I have achieved so many of my goals like building a business, having a paid government internship, working closely with my local officials to make sure that people disproportionately affected by covid in my community have access to vaccines, testing and more. Advising closely on police task force discussions and school resource officer meetings by sharing my own experiences and being a representative for my student body. I’ve worked hard as the president of Nubians United to ensure that my classmates have access to networking opportunities and perfecting my debate skills as captain of my mock trial team 2 years in a row. I'm proud of myself so far but I still have so much more to accomplish. I believe that I can change the world by being the change. I just need the tools.

Tamara pierre Dear Beautiful Melanated Princess, You probably don’t know me, but I know you. I’m you at 16 and in your senior year. You will soon realize who you are, and you will be so much happier realizing who Tamara is. I know that you see the girls at school with silky straight hair or beautiful bouncy curls while you have a 4c texture and are prone to masking that with relaxers. Ask yourself why? Mom tell us that it’s just “too hard to maintain” because she’s been wearing them her whole life but babygirl, these relaxers are erasing your identity. Soon you’ll realize that the 6 hour washdays are worth it because they are what makes you, you. I know that you feel so alone during this time. You’ve spent your whole life dependent on friendships for happiness. You used them to feel a sense of security because it was too hard to love yourself. This will all change in about 2 years, give it some time. I know you won’t believe me when I say that in the future you’ve become everything you wanted to be. You worked 3 jobs to buy your own car, you had the courage to leave a toxic workplace, you’re on the path to going to college. You do it all so gracefully and I’m so proud of you. A part of your growth has been recognizing your race and your heritage. I guess I could call it finding your blackness, now that has always been difficult in a predominantly Hispanic school I know. Over the years we have loved music and in 10th grade we start to explore more kinds of music. Kompa which is Haitian music that you hadn’t really been fond of up until then, then we started digging into the pillars of black music like Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, New Edition , Debarge and etc. Their music has healed you when you were in need of it and built up your strength. You have found yourself brown skinned girl. I think the hardest part of being us is that everything we deal with , we only have each other. I know that there’s times you lay in bed, in silence, letting your thoughts consume you. I remember the times you laid in bed crying to sleep wishing not to wake up. You were 13 not being able to imagine a life after 14, life in the high school or in college. You didn’t know if your depression would swallow you before you were old enough to get a job, drive or graduate. You were surviving, not living. Today I’m happy to say that we are going to an HBCU to major in history and become a lawyer. A part of you still lives inside me but we don’t see each other often. I love you and thank you for everything you taught me.

Dear Beautiful Princess, You probably don’t know me, but I know you. I’m you at 16 and in your senior year. You will soon realize who you are, and you will be so much happier realizing who Tamara is. I know that you see the girls at school with silky straight hair or beautiful bouncy curls while you have a 4c texture and are prone to masking that with relaxers. Ask yourself why? Mom tells us that it’s just “too hard to maintain” because she’s been wearing them her whole life but babygirl, these relaxers are erasing your identity. Soon you’ll realize that the 6 hour washdays are worth it because they are what makes you, you. I know that you feel so alone during this time. You’ve spent your whole life dependent on friendships for happiness. You used them to feel a sense of security because it was too hard to love yourself. This will all change in about 2 years, give it some time. I know you won’t believe me when I say that in the future you’ve become everything you wanted to be. You worked 3 jobs to buy your own car, you had the courage to leave a toxic workplace, you’re on the path to going to college. You do it all so gracefully and I’m so proud of you. A part of your growth has been recognizing your race and your heritage. I guess I could call it finding your blackness. Now, that has always been difficult in a predominantly Hispanic school I know. Over the years we have loved music and in 10th grade we start to explore more kinds of music. Kompa which is Haitian music that you hadn’t really been fond of up until then, then we started digging into the pillars of black music like Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, New Edition , Debarge and etc. Their music has healed you when you were in need of it and built up your strength. You have found yourself brown skinned girl. I think the hardest part of being us is that everything we deal with , we only have each other. I know that there’s times you lay in bed, in silence, letting your thoughts consume you. I remember the times you laid in bed crying to sleep wishing not to wake up. You were 13 not being able to imagine a life after 14, life in the high school or in college. You didn’t know if your depression would swallow you before you were old enough to get a job, drive or graduate. You were surviving, not living. Today I’m happy to say that we are leaving long island to be the first to go to college. A part of you still lives inside me but we don’t see each other often. I love you and thank you for everything you have taught me. Sincerely, A Beautiful Queen.

Dear Beautiful Melanated Princess, You probably don’t know me, but I know you. I’m you at 16 and in your senior year. You will soon realize who you are, and you will be so much happier realizing who Tamara is. I know that you see the girls at school with silky straight hair or beautiful bouncy curls while you have a 4c texture and are prone to masking that with relaxers. Ask yourself why? Mom tells us that it’s just “too hard to maintain” because she’s been wearing them her whole life but babygirl, these relaxers are erasing your identity. Soon you’ll realize that the 6 hour washdays are worth it because they are what makes you, you. I know that you feel so alone during this time. You’ve spent your whole life dependent on friendships for happiness. You used them to feel a sense of security because it was too hard to love yourself. This will all change in about 2 years, give it some time. I know you won’t believe me when I say that in the future you’ve become everything you wanted to be. You worked 3 jobs to buy your own car, you had the courage to leave a toxic workplace, you’re on the path to going to college. You do it all so gracefully and I’m so proud of you. A part of your growth has been recognizing your race and your heritage. I guess I could call it finding your blackness. Now, that has always been difficult in a predominantly Hispanic school I know. Over the years we have loved music and in 10th grade we start to explore more kinds of music. Kompa which is Haitian music that you hadn’t really been fond of up until then, then we started digging into the pillars of black music like Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, New Edition , Debarge and etc. Their music has healed you when you were in need of it and built up your strength. You have found yourself brown skinned girl. I think the hardest part of being us is that everything we deal with , we only have each other. I know that there’s times you lay in bed, in silence, letting your thoughts consume you. I remember the times you laid in bed crying to sleep wishing not to wake up. You were 13 not being able to imagine a life after 14, life in the high school or in college. You didn’t know if your depression would swallow you before you were old enough to get a job, drive or graduate. You were surviving, not living. Today I’m happy to say that we are leaving long island to major in history and become a lawyer. A part of you still lives inside me but we don’t see each other often. I love you and thank you for everything you have taught me. Sincerely, A Beautiful Melanated Queen.

Dear Beautiful Melanated Princess, You probably don’t know me, but I know you. I’m you at 16 and in your senior year. You will soon realize who you are, and you will be so much happier realizing who Tamara is. I know that you see the girls at school with silky straight hair or beautiful bouncy curls while you have a 4c texture and are prone to masking that with relaxers. Ask yourself why? Mom tell us that it’s just “too hard to maintain” because she’s been wearing them her whole life but babygirl, these relaxers are erasing your identity. Soon you’ll realize that the 6 hour washdays are worth it because they are what makes you, you. I know that you feel so alone during this time. You’ve spent your whole life dependent on friendships for happiness. You used them to feel a sense of security because it was too hard to love yourself. This will all change in about 2 years, give it some time. I know you won’t believe me when I say that in the future you’ve become everything you wanted to be. You worked 3 jobs to buy your own car, you had the courage to leave a toxic workplace, you’re on the path to going to college. You do it all so gracefully and I’m so proud of you. A part of your growth has been recognizing your race and your heritage. I guess I could call it finding your blackness, now that has always been difficult in a predominantly Hispanic school I know. Over the years we have loved music and in 10th grade we start to explore more kinds of music. Kompa which is Haitian music that you hadn’t really been fond of up until then, then we started digging into the pillars of black music like Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, New Edition , Debarge and etc. Their music has healed you when you were in need of it and built up your strength. You have found yourself brown skinned girl. I think the hardest part of being us is that everything we deal with , we only have each other. I know that there’s times you lay in bed, in silence, letting your thoughts consume you. I remember the times you laid in bed crying to sleep wishing not to wake up. You were 13 not being able to imagine a life after 14, life in the high school or in college. You didn’t know if your depression would swallow you before you were old enough to get a job, drive or graduate. You were surviving, not living. Today I’m happy to say that we are the first to go to college and you will major in History and become a lawyer. A part of you still lives inside me but we don’t see each other often. I love you and thank you for everything you taught me. Sincerely, A Beautiful Melanated Queen.

Dear Beautiful Melanated Princess, You probably don’t know me, but I know you. I’m you at 16 and in your senior year. You will soon realize who you are, and you will be so much happier realizing who Tamara is. I know that you see the girls at school with silky straight hair or beautiful bouncy curls while you have a 4c texture and are prone to masking that with relaxers. Ask yourself why? Mom tell us that it’s just “too hard to maintain” because she’s been wearing them her whole life but babygirl, these relaxers are erasing your identity. Soon you’ll realize that the 6 hour washdays are worth it because they are what makes you, you. I know that you feel so alone during this time. You’ve spent your whole life dependent on friendships for happiness. You used them to feel a sense of security because it was too hard to love yourself. This will all change in about 2 years, give it some time. I know you won’t believe me when I say that in the future you’ve become everything you wanted to be. You worked 3 jobs to buy your own car, you had the courage to leave a toxic workplace, you’re on the path to going to college. You do it all so gracefully and I’m so proud of you. A part of your growth has been recognizing your race and your heritage. I guess I could call it finding your blackness, now that has always been difficult in a predominantly Hispanic school I know. Over the years we have loved music and in 10th grade we start to explore more kinds of music. Kompa which is Haitian music that you hadn’t really been fond of up until then, then we started digging into the pillars of black music like Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, New Edition , Debarge and etc. Their music has healed you when you were in need of it and built up your strength. You have found yourself brown skinned girl. I think the hardest part of being us is that everything we deal with , we only have each other. I know that there’s times you lay in bed, in silence, letting your thoughts consume you. I remember the times you laid in bed crying to sleep wishing not to wake up. You were 13 not being able to imagine a life after 14, life in the high school or in college. You didn’t know if your depression would swallow you before you were old enough to get a job, drive or graduate. You were surviving, not living. Today I’m happy to say that we are going to an HBCU to major in economics and become a lawyer. A part of you still lives inside me but we don’t see each other often. I love you and thank you for everything you taught me. Sincerely, A Beautiful Melanated Queen.