I remember publishing when I was 16 years old in high school. I was so happy to publish. My writing dreams go back to when I was 8. So it’s kind of embedded in me to publish. When it went live on the site all I remember was getting cursed out by my family. It was the best and worst day of my life. It was like being trained all your life to follow your dreams. But getting punished because you actually followed through.
Looking back on what I published I know that wasn’t my best, but I was just so eager to do it. At the time I was at a rough patch with the whole writing thing. I was stuck between chasing my parent’s dreams for me and worrying about my personal goals. So it was a little bit of redemption in it.
I self-published a speech called dreams. It was a brief speech. I don’t know why but I was just into speeches at the time. Still am a little. The cover of the speech was terrible and the back was even worst. But I was just happy to accomplish my dreams of publishing. That was all that mattered. Being able to see my work physically. Following through with that little boy dream in me. Well, That’s it for this story time. If you want to read a speech I wrote when I was 16 here it is below. Mind you I was 16, I write differently now.
Dreams
‘I have a dream’ Was once said by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, on August 28, 1963. At the time he called for an end to racism in the United States. He dreamed about it and believe that he can get the job done without violence. He stood up for a cause. Martin made a great change by using words. Now I stand here today because I have a dream too. I stand here as Delane Exum. I stand here to make a change. A great change to the United States.
I stand here as Delane Exum I am a young teenage male who has had his eyes wide open on the world. Seeing everything that goes on makes me sick to my stomach. We have not moved on since back then. We have had the crime rates go up higher than ever before. Our African American race has been the main cause. We are fighting each other for what. We have been shooting each other. For what? You get mad and want to kill someone and end up in jail wondering where did you go wrong. We are getting nowhere with all the crimes going on. I have sat back and watched for long enough to realize that we are not getting nowhere. We need to stop the violence and get right.
We are too busy shooting each other to realize that we are not getting nowhere. We are focused on the negatives. Selling drugs and making babies are our main priority right now. We can’t even take care of our children now. We want the high life but can’t even get a job. Selling drugs is going to get you in two places.
Jail or a coffin. While you put your family through the misery of losing you. Then half of us start doing this at a young age. Typically when we are in high school. We feel as though it’s too hard so we try to take the easy way out. We live our lives in a dream thinking everything we want is just going to pop up. But we soon learn that life can be hard at times and only the strong survive.
The weak are the ones living a lie. Living thinking about how they are going to take from others. The weak will do anything to be rich when life isn’t all about money. Life is about chasing dreams. You have dreams in your head all the time but its what you do is the key. You dream about something every day. But its only some that actually try to accomplish their dreams. Only a few today that tries to make their dreams into reality.
Life brings challenges and obstacles every day but only a few have an answer for each challenge. We often have challenges that will make us want to quit but we know we can’t. We have to stay focus and keep our eyes on the prize. Some of us have babies that we struggle to take care of. So we have to stay strong and stick together. As one. We try to put each other down every day. I have a dream. I have a dream. I have a dream.
I have a dream that one day we all can come together and be one race. One race. We can all just be Americans. We have the Caucasians putting the everyone down. They have been putting us down for the longest. The Hispanic has gotten the same treatment as the African Americans. We have been like this for centuries. We can’t get along for nothing. The African Americans are killing each other. The Hispanics are trying to get ahead. The Caucasians are killing us one by one. Then the sad thing is its the political team that’s taken us out. We need to march once again to make a change. We have to stand together as one and make a change. No more violence.
We have cases going on in court that makes me sick. The African Americans can never when a case. Even when the odds are on their side they still do not win. We have kids getting killed. Then their killers don’t get no punishment. Why? Why does this happen? I’ll tell you why cause we never moved on from before. When we marched for the first time that wasn’t the end it was only the beginning. We thought it was over until we fast forward years later when we see the Caucasian race killing people and getting off easy. Then we the African Americans start to kill people and we start going to jail. Then we realize the odds aren’t on our side. We often see our children being killed by police officers with no justice being served.
We then get upset by the fact and want to kill someone and they are in jail wondering where the time went. We have to get it together. This can’t be life. I’m tired of this mess in the United States. We need to get it together. Our family is getting killed by the police officers. The ones that are supposed to be protecting us. Instead, they are killing us. I have seen an innocent Black teenage boy get shot by neighborhood watch because he had a hoodie on. Then the killer didn’t get no time. He was set free. Now if we flip the script and say he it was a White teenage boy that had a hoodie on and the neighborhood watch was Black then we would have a case. I guarantee that the Black male would be locked up. Like why does it has to be done this way? I have a dream that we can finally have fair judges. I have seen a young male get shot down the other day. The male went and robbed a store and got caught of course. But when he put his hands up signaling that he surrenders. But the cop didn’t care he shot him several times killing him. We will get nowhere when we can’t even be protected.
I have a dream that our teens can finally get it together. We have teens these days with babies. They are forced to be a parent at a young age. Specifically male teenage boys are more interested in sex, money, and marijuana. They are worried about the negatives but are not worried about school. Then they get arrested for doing something they had no business doing. Every time I get online I see kids fighting each other and recording it thinking its all funny. Like what is so funny about getting hit upside the head. I have a dream that we will stop fighting.
I have a dream that our teens will stop having sex at a young age. Our babies are growing up too fast. They are having sex and before you know it you are a grandparent. Then they are trying to find jobs to support their family. Then the male leaves the family to be with his boys and can’t take care of his family. The female is usually left to take care of the baby on her own. Why does this happen? I’ll tell you why because these teenage boys don’t know nothing about responsibility. They have no self-respect walking around with their pants down smoking thinking they’re cool but taking care of your kids is cooler. I have a dream. We fight for our rights for what? The cops are killing us because they don’t like us. They kill us because we look suspicious. We look suspicious so that means we have to be killed. No, it doesn’t cops get bored and just want to kill someone. We have not done anything to them we just want to live life like them. But we can’t.
I have a dream that we can all come together as an equal force. I dream that we can finally make a change. I have a dream that we can change our ways. I am willing to make a change along with everyone else. God is looking down on everything we go through. We have to make a change to this nation. Our time has come to be better people. We need to seek other options and do better. Martin had a dream and I have a dream. I will not stop until justice is served. We need to make a change for the best of us. We have a lot of time and opportunity to make it right. We need to put down the guns and march for what we want.
I have a dream that we will one day be equal for a change. One day our babies will start going to class and stay out of trouble. One day the police will actually protect us from danger. One day we can all stand together as one. One day our babies will stop having sex so much and take care of their responsibilities. One day we can stop the violence. Stop recording us getting beat up and start helping us up. Stop laughing at each other. Start laughing with each other. Be equal and live life. Live life with a better feeling. One day we can actually feel like we’re home. One day we will stop taking from others. One day we will start to act as one. One day this country will be equal and everyone will get along with each other. One day our jailhouses will be empty. One day we will have more people in college than behind bars. One day this will all happen. One day we can all get it together. One day we can all make a great change.
I have a dream that one day I can stand tall and look at all the changes in life. One day I can be at the top looking over all the changes. One day I Delane Exum can see all the changes that have been made. I can see everything that has changed. One day the world can be a better place for our children.
