It is true that for most people, family is everything. I am one of those people, my family means the world to me. My family has a tradition where we have an annual get together and spend time with each other. This gives us the opportunity to appreciate your family. Growing up I did not really have any role models. I came up with a term “self-moldivated” which I use to simply remind me that I am self-made. Since I did not have a role model, I used to term to hold me accountable through trail and tribulations that I have faced. I have had my own experiences that led to me wanting to help others, but I will speak on a situation with my older brother.
When I was about ten years old, I seen police brutality for the first time, and it was done to my brother. At the time, since I was young, I thought it was normal but the older I got the more I realized that it was not. My brother was sixteen years old when this situation occurred. The situation started one day after school. He came and picked me up so we can walk home and all of a sudden, he was tackled to the ground by officers. I can remember the day this happened vividly. It was a snow day, I remember one officer having his knees on my brothers back while trying to put him in handcuffs and another officer was punching him and repeatedly shoving his face into the snow telling him to shut up while he was asking what was going on. Luckily, we were near our house when the situation happened. Someone we knew called our parents. When they arrived, they asked what the issue was, the officers responded that my brother fit the description of someone who was walking around assaulting elderly people earlier in the day. The officers did all of that just to come to conclusion that they have the wrong suspect.
I must admit, ever since that day I have been disgusted by police officers especially the ones who abuse their power. Due to me being naïve at the time, it was not until about age fourteen until I was able to understand what police brutality was. Using social media ties into my family’s values because we all use social media to spread awareness about police brutality because we know what it is like firsthand. Me and my family members make a post twice a week to make people aware that police brutality is still going on even if it does not make it to major platforms. I learned that having social media some what makes my family closer. It allows us to share information with one another in our group chats when we are not around each other. Honestly, I feel like the pandemic has brought my family closer. It seems like we check on each other’s overall wellbeing more often than we have prior to the pandemic. Social media played a part as well because there are things on there that we share with each other to lift our spirits and get us though these tough times.
