i want to talk about something. it's not easy for me to talk about this but i have to. it's obviously about BLM but more importantly the influence POC have had in my life. so i'm gonna tell you a story. in elementary school i was always kinda a loner and i was always feeling kinda down but the people who helped me were almost all POC so let's start in 1st grade. i was crying in the hallway for some reason cuz i always seemed to do that in elementary but anyway when i was sitting there a black girl (this entire thing is about POC so if you don't feel comfortable with me bringing race into this you can leave) a few years older than me asked me why i was crying and of course i told her and she helped me feel better. there was this other girl who had been my bff since kindergarten and we pretty much did everything together and when i would go storm out into the hallway she would always ask to go and check on me and she always managed to cheer me up. there was another girl i met in preschool and we were pretty much always there for each other and she wasn't like all pushy about everything like most adults are. she just moved over behind me and started braiding my hair or just playing with my hair and she was legitimately one of the kindest people i have ever met and in 5th grade i became obsessed with oragami and i would occasionally give her some of the pieces i would make and sometimes she would just write me these little notes on them that just made me happy. in 3rd grade one day i was just having a bad day and everything i was hiding from everyone else kinda just like came back to me and i started crying in the gym and a girl who didn't know me at all and was in no way obligated to help me came over to me asked me what was wrong and got me a new lunch and then she helped me go back to my classroom without anyone noticing me. another time there was a sub and we were taking advantage of his kindness and we were playing this role playing game and my friend and i got into a fight about something stupid and afterwards i was crying in the gym because reasons and there was this one girl who was friends with us too and she organized a fun thing for me in our game just to cheer me up. and in 4th grade i started going to a before school program because of my moms new job causing me to have to get up early and there was a girl from my school who helped me find the right room and when she saw me sad at school she would cheer me up and she's the reason i never missed the bus. another time at summer camp my mom had gotten the wrong date for the start of camp and i was crying at a table because everything was stressful and this girl asked me to sit with her and her friend and she was nice to me which wasn't something i was used to from anyone other than the girls who talked to me first instead of the popular kids when they were new and the few people who just never abandoned me (my family was nice to me too but that's besides the point) and i just can't help but think about these girls who did so much for me and made me the person i am today and get angry when i hear about people murdering POC simply because their skin is a different color.