“You are joy, you are laughter, you are rage. You are also beauty and defiance. You are a kite soaring above the earth, bound to it by gravity and gravitas. You are deliberate and carefree, sad and contemplative, and you are bright and glowing. You are quiet, you are dancing, and you are fresh to death.” – Unknown

To be Black in America is to consistently exist within the taunting and mundane proximity to your death at all times. It is the chill that covers your neck when you raise your hoodie onto your head during a light rainfall. It is slowing your jogging pace so that you don’t seem too threatening to those around you. It’s yelling and insisting that your life matters and being told that you’re wrong. It’s logging onto Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see Black bodies dropping exponentially. To be Black in America, to be Black in this space, is to be at war at all times. Your presence—the space you occupy every day, is your activism. Your existence is your resistance. Your self-care is your revolution. It prepares you for the next day’s battle.

To be Black at Washington University in St. Louis is to study brutality and biology, the police force and physics, activism and art. It’s finding out that your peers are prepared to Make America Great Again, when they didn’t even make America. It’s searching for accomplices in a sea of abundant allies. It’s knowing that going to class, means going to war. It’s knowing that your demands are decorations for diversity. It’s having a roommate who will binge-watch “Luke Cage” on Netflix and vilify Black resistance and survival in their pastime.

The Association of Black Students at Washington University in St. Louis would like to send healing powers and solidarity to all of our members. Remember why you are here. Know that your presence is a present. Your place within this space is a protest. During this debate season, we encourage you to remain knowledgeable of all candidates and their positions on various issues as they may impact you. Know your rights. Know your worth. Embrace the beauty in being Black. Harness the power of your Blackness.

For decades, Blackness has been viewed as a source of entertainment, while our humanity and value has been simultaneously neglected and compromised. It is our duty to resist those that seek to completely rob us of any hope of liberation. For us, resistance comes in many forms; your act of resistance may be protesting, and it very well may be using social media to express your feelings or retreating into your private dorm rooms to unplug and recharge. Regardless, we would like to take this time to stress the importance of self-care in anti-Black spaces. Log off of your social media accounts periodically, stay hydrated, eat well and get plenty of rest. Stay safe, stay strong and refuse to live in fear. The deaths of the several Black individuals this past summer along with the deaths of several others at the hands of law enforcement are eerie reminders of our country’s commitment to housing racial segregation and systemic violence. Our country has advanced in many areas, but the treatment of Brown and Black people remains the same.

To our peers, respect our existence or expect our resistance. Black Lives Matter.