Megan

Every part of me wants to try to go to sleep right now. But if I did, I'd be having nightmares. I'll be 19 at the end of this month, finally catching up to most of my friends. We're all just around the same age as Megan Williams. I don't know if Megan Williams likes to watch "The Hills" like me and my friends. I don't know if she shops at Forever 21, or if she's as afraid of bugs as we are. I don't even know if she worships the same God. What I do know for sure, is that she never imagined being shot at the way she was and that she could not have deserved it. No, Megan was not physically shot at with a gun (that we know of), but the warped souls that attacked her took their best shot at ruining her. Their intentions superseded the inhumanity of physical death. They wanted to decompose Megan's truest existence her spirit, and her soul.

My soul ails tonight because I am so painfully aware of the logistics of a situation like this. Soon, this case will no longer receive even the minuscule headline coverage it currently has. The mass media will continue to report the story below its worthiness. People will soon forget. The courts will be kind. Outrageous and irrelevant ideas that Megan was asking for her torture or in some way shares responsibility with her predators will come up again and again. The fact that the reaction would be absolutely different if Megan was a White woman assaulted by Blacks, or even a White woman assaulted by other Whites, will not bother most people. And people will not pause to think that Megan is only one case in so many like hers that have already been dismissed from our social phyche. In effect, the system will do the job it does so well. Because, in this reality, Megan, like me or one of my friends or classmates, is just another Black girl.

I will not allow this woman to be forgotten. I will remember her everyday because she is permanently etched into my heart. She could have been me.

I am confident that Megan is more than a conqueror and it is only a matter of time before the God in her will rise up in triumph over this audacious attempt. Her insuperable essence can already be seen rising in her decision to go public with her story and even be showed on camera. I salute her. I honor her. I pay tribute to her. Because in my reality, she is worth it, even if she's just another Black girl like me.