KAYLEE | STUDENT

It has always been fairly easy for me to make friends as I am extremely open and outgoing. I find immense comfort and joy in building bonds and relationships with other people. However, sometimes I feel out of place when I am with my friends.

As a young African American woman, I always had underlying thoughts about being different. Although I was rarely consciously thinking about it, my thoughts were usually about being different from all of my friends and wanting to fit in with them. I felt as though I was too “white washed” to be friends with my black friend group from Jack and Jill, an organization dedicated to nurturing future African-American leaders. On the other hand, I felt as if I was too “black” in the way I looked to ever totally fit in with my school friend group. It began to make me feel self-conscious and inferior.

Diversity and inclusion are two major things that our society has always struggled with as a whole. I believe that diversity refers to gender, race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and much more. In relation to diversity, I believe that inclusion refers to the matter that all people, regardless of any differences, have the same rights. It allows people to feel that they are wanted and welcome into any group. In my mind diversity is the who and what, while inclusion is the how in a situation.

I live in Naperville, Illinois, and my town is one that does not have much diversity, while trying to promote inclusion. It is a predominantly white town, where I have attended a predominantly white elementary, middle, and high school. I have always felt that the people surrounding me at school knew about diversity and equality, but they were never truly educated.

I believe that it is important for people to have a voice and a space to share how they feel and what they believe. There have been countless protests and rallies in the past months that have all been about the Black Lives Matter movement. Many may think that I, being a young African American woman, would have attended most, if not all, of them. However, I attended one march and decided that the environment was not for me.

My mindset has always been: I am who I am because I have had struggles in life. I want to be able to love myself without feeling the need to compare myself to everyone around me. Even though these protests and marches might have allowed me to accept myself more, I could not bring myself to be there and allow that to happen. I have learned to not let what other people think of me affect me.

A lot of people in our world may view me in a negative light, but I cannot let that stop me from making an impact and a change in our world.