Micah is a third-year general studies major studying in the fields of health science and psychology. He is also a published author and producer.
As a young Black man growing up in America, I can honestly say that there’s never been a time in my life where I’ve been allowed the privilege to be ignorant to the issue of racial inequality.
Growing up with friends and family, I always found that we all had a general sense of understanding of how things work in this country. Not being allowed to wear my hoodie outside was always normal. Hearing racial slurs was normal. Being told I would need to work two or three times harder than other people just because of the color of my skin was just something I understood. I became normalized to the disadvantages I would face and continue to face in society, and I just decided to live my life quietly and try to deal with things as best I could.
Eventually, there reached a point where I just got tired. I got tired of being stopped by the police or having the police called on me for no reason. I got tired of missing out on jobs because my hair was deemed “unprofessional.” I got tired of watching my people all across the country continue to fall victim to injustice. There reached a point where my feelings about racial inequality bubbled to the surface, and I couldn’t be silent any longer. I knew it was time for me to speak out. It was time for me to take a leap of faith.
It was important for me to understand that, in finding my voice, I would need to recognize my strengths. I always had a knack for writing, so I decided to speak out through my writing. During the fall of 2018, I decided to start writing personal stories about my life as I dealt with “race and reckoning.” By the summer of 2020, the timing around the finalization of my book coincided with the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, so I felt it was time to release my work to the world. On July 30, 2020, I published “Step Into My Shoes: Memoirs From the Other Side of America.”
My original plan was actually to stop there, with just the publication of my book, but as the months passed, my book started to gain traction. I watched as people resonated and connected with my work, and as media outlets began to pick up on my work and reach out to me. I didn’t plan for my work to start taking off, but as it did, new opportunities to continue to speak out just kept on knocking at my door.
Following the release of my book, I was able to produce an audio series based on my book, work with some of Hollywood’s most prestigious actors and actresses on social justice projects, give public speeches about my book and civil rights, work with mental health centers as far as in Europe to bring light to the mental effects of race-related trauma and so much more.
With what started out as just an idea to reach and captivate perhaps 20 people — if I was lucky — I found that things had quickly changed. I became somewhat of a figure in the community, using my platform to bring about positive change in society.
To quote the legendary civil rights leader John Lewis, “I was called by the spirit of history, to do my part in bringing a better, more just society. To help create a better world for everyone.”
This is how I found my voice.
