The Boogeyman is Real
As a kid, one of my greatest fears, besides vegetables, was the Boogeyman. The mere thought that someone could be living under your bed, in your closet, in your basement, or even dark alleys that would kill you was the scariest shit ever. But as I slowly grew older I began to realize that the Boogeyman was in fact real, and he was far more dangerous than I realized.
He can burst through homes and kill you with a “justifiable” excuse of threat. He can stop you on your way to pick up Thai food because you fit the description of someone. He lurks around every corner in department stores under false pretenses that you were up to no good. He can expel you from school for making one childish mistake and not giving you the opportunity to change. He removes you from your family for eternity by putting you in a cage, and if you fit the right description again, takes it even further and sends you a place he believes is your “home” even though you know no one there. He makes laws that prohibit you from accessibility to healthy food options, clean water, transportation, livable housing, and clean air. He misdiagnoses you and denies giving you extra aid because of a myth he believes about you having a “higher” tolerance of pain. He dismisses your gender identity and sexual preference calling it a “phase.” He works effortlessly with his minions to control your body. He denies your right to vote. He denies your right to a livable wage. He belittles your sense of fear, stating that not all people are like that. He demands you to forget the parts of the past that have molded your oppression but praise the part that makes him look great. He commands you to remove politics from your career because it makes him uncomfortable. He kills on a daily basis and he destroys the lives of millions each and every day. The boogeyman is real and his legend is told to black and brown children by their parents every day.
