Dear Tomi Lahren,
Just so you are aware, approximately 4.2 million black children live in poverty, which is 4 times the rate of white or Asian children living in impoverished conditions. Also, I just want you to know that schools where the majority of students are black receive less funding per student when compared to schools where the majority of students are white. I would also like to point out the statistics that black youths are victims of violent crimes at significantly higher rates than their white peers. As I am sure you can comprehend, given the fact that you seem like an intelligent human being, all of those environmental stressors can do a lot of negative harm to a person. However, this is where I am sure we disagree. You, like many others, probably cast blame on the black community. “If their parents only made smarter decisions…” “Black people need to stop making themselves the victims.” “Black people just need to vote.” “Black people kill each other more than white people kill them.” “I don’t see black people doing anything about their problems.” I am not going to waste my time arguing with you on that one because that isn’t my point. My point is that those children are innocent, and they should not be responsible for putting food on the table, fighting the educational system, or escaping violence on a daily basis. I think you can agree with me that you don’t ever want to see a child go hungry or be the victim of violence. Right? Right?!
Okay, great we agree on something! #progress. Now, let me back up a little bit and address a comment you made to Trevor Noah on The Daily Show, which, by the way, was a surprisingly refreshing segment of two people disagreeing with each other without spewing hate everywhere. On his show, you connected The Black Lives Matter Movement with hate, crimes, and violence (the deaths of the Dallas police being one of them). Again, I do not wish to argue with you on this one. What I do wish to, I guess, “argue” is that by your logic we then can also contribute the good things that happen with movements. For example, the Ice Bucket Challenge raised awareness on ALS and brought in nearly $115 million dollars. Therefore, it’s safe to say that the Ice Bucket Challenge was a success and still would have been a success even if it only conjured up $500 because that is $500 more dollars than it had before the Ice Bucket Challenge became a thing. Right? Good, we agree again!
Moving on, we have now come to our good friend Colin Kaepernick and his decision to kneel during the National Anthem. I know, I know, you do not like him nor do you like his actions. Unfortunately, we disagree on that, but again, we are not going to argue that. However, and hear me out, what if one child and one child only was spared from violence or poverty or given the gift of a college education that he or she otherwise couldn’t afford because someone was inspired by Colin’s actions? Then, that child grew up and had his own children who were free from poverty and given a chance at a fair education all because their father was removed from a bad situation all because someone out there resonated with Colin’s message (#mindblown). Would then his movement not be considered a success? I’m going to take it even further and explain why America is so great. What if by Colin’s right to his bold and controversial actions that he got people exercising their right to hate and disagree with him and therefore because some people, like you, have bashed him so hard it only inspired some people, like me, to want to prove you and all of his critics wrong by fighting the poverty, crime, and educational disparities that children experience in black communities? Except, Tomi, there are no “what ifs.” It’s happening. And remember we agreed earlier that we would never want to see a child go hungry or be the victim of violence, so then can’t we both say that Colin’s movement has been a success, right?
So in all, I want to thank you Colin Kaepernick for taking a stand on something that deserves much needed attention. Also, Tomi, I want to thank you and anyone else who posted a negative attack on Colin to social media because you only fueled my desire to make a change to help children even more. And lastly, I want to thank America for being a cunning little devil. Here we all were thinking we were so divided, but, in reality, we’ve been working together this whole time. Well played, America, well played.
God Bless,
Lauren #bethechangeyouwishtoseeintheworld
