Imagine, by Javier Lopez

A CALL TO VOTE


Hoax 11 news showed a video of Eric Garner uttering, “I can't breathe, I can't breathe!" with his last breath as a police officer stole his life from him. From that day on, all I can do was imagine a world where that never happen. 
I can imagine a world where the melanin isn't bled out of society by fictitious fear. 
a world where the bullets that struck weren't protected by the law
a world where the tension flowing through your body didn't make you feel ill as the grand jury decided to let criminals keep their badges. The justice department marks a tear for each one taken and a million are wept by families left behind. 
I can imagine a world where millions of eyes didn't burn after the ICE had struck their heart and tore families apart, like pages from your favorite book. 
A world where tears weren't crystallized, frozen in time, trapping a memory of when brothers, sisters and parents lived happy lives, together. 
I can imagine a world where the children in Syria and Iraq don't confuse drones with shooting stars, instantly evaporating their wishes rather than granting them. 
A world where children don't wonder why their brothers, fathers, mothers and sisters won't come home if they had just gone shopping for groceries. 

I can Imagine a world where broken backs and calloused hands are not seen as a sign of poverty and unworthiness, but as a sign of resilience and we'll deserved comfort. 
A world where their calloused hands that were layered on top of unfulfilled Dreams are allowed to open a door to a home which they own. 
A world where their body isn't dragged from month to month, hoping that this time they'll have enough money left to save for their child's education. 
A world where parents life's aren't drained out of them just to give their kids a chance to get a higher education. 
A world where higher education doesn't leave millions of students in debt. 
This is the land where we are endowed with the unalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, yet it is nowhere to be found for most. 
I now have the power to turn my imagination into reality. 
My vote, my voice, has the power to change that which I feel is unjust and cruel. 
our vote, our voices, have the power to create the future we want. 
we will not be silenced by the history and present that others have created. 
Our vote and our voice is what will lead us into prosperity and kindness for all. 
I can imagine a world where our vote, our voices bring back tears of joy to the eyes of families that have lost children to law enforcement, once justice is resurrected. 
I can imagine a world where our vote, our voices are what keep families together regardless of social or national status in this land of equality. 
I can imagine a world where our vote, our voices are what will turn drones back into shooting stars so that children in Syria and Iraq can go back home to their parents and tell them what they wished for. 
I can imagine a world where our vote, our voices, are what will give the working class a wage that allows them to enjoy the fruit of their labor and allows them to wake up after having the American dream and live it. 
Our votes, our voices, can bring down walls, bring down borders, bring down oppression and stop the bullets from ever leaving the chamber that holds our mothers nightmares so that we can build the lives our parents wanted for us. 
Past generations have not had the power that we have been granted with. It is time to get what was always ours. It is time for us to create a future we believe in. It is time to stop imagining. We must all come together and vote so our unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness finally become our reality.