I, for years, have considered myself to be liberal and that I have a want for social change. However, I have always talked a big game without truly showing up for the marginalized communities and social issues that I wanted to help. I am truly sorry that it took a tragedy to force me to realize the error of my ways. I now realize that I was not fighting for anyone. I was selfish and made excuses for not showing up when I knew things were wrong. I can never take back the time that I spent being too afraid of being uncomfortable. All I can do is apologize, learn from my mistakes, and take up the mantle of social justice from now on. I plan to do this by not just using my platform to raise awareness of social justice issues but by actively building my platform to include raising awareness and solutions to these issues. 

My plan is to share about one social issue for one week a month. By separating out a specific time to talk about these issues I will be able to have time to solely focus and research on the issue. By doing this I will be able to educate myself and find relevant and useful information. Each month will focus on issues and movements like Black Lives Matter, Environmentalism, LGBTQ+ related issues, Fatphobia, Mental health, and many, many more. I want to make it clear that I will not try to share my take on these issues if they do not apply to my personal experiences. Instead, I will be sharing and uplifting the voices of people directly affected by these problems and how other people can get involved in the issues. 

A brief rundown of how I plan to set up these activism weeks: 

•  Explain the History and Current Status of the Issue
  • A brief history of the issue
  • Books to read on the history of the issue 
  • Documentaries to watch on the issue 
  • Data on the issue
  • Current status of the issue

• Action to Take
  • Donations
  • Petitions to sign
  • How to Call and email your representatives 
  • People running for office and in office that have a plan for this issue
  • Other relevant actions to take

• How to Educate Yourself and Spread Awareness on Social Media 
  • Influencers to follow related to the issue
  • Organizations to follow bringing awareness to the issue
  • Businesses to buy from related to the issue 
  • Things to post on your social media about the issue

As I age and my platform grows I would love to do more and more for all of these issues that I care about. Doing things like donation matching, fundraisers, and in-person related support for these issues would be incredible, but I currently cannot do that with the resources I have. My greatest asset for helping the world right now is using my voice to spread awareness and educating myself and those around me, and so I will do that to the best of my ability.

The first Activism week will probably not start until August as my website is still in it’s beginning phases. However, do expect blog posts on social issues until then, especially regarding the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality, as they are super important and the current trending social justice topics. 

Lastly, I want to acknowledge that I will probably say and do the wrong things sometimes. This is because I am human, young, and still learning. This will be a lifelong effort of activism and I will not be perfect at it. If I ever offend you or do or say something wrong about an issue please let me know so I can swiftly correct it and issue an apology. I want to not shy away from making mistakes but learn from them. My DMs, comment sections, and emails are always open.