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I am Ready

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I am tired. I am simply tired of living a life where no matter how hard I try, there will always be an older, white man considered “superior” to me. It’s like the feeling of being at the last leg of a race and feeling so exhausted that you feel like you can’t even take another step.

And yet, you keep going. Why? Why would you, as an extremely exhausted human being without a shred of energy left, keep running in that race? It’s because you NEED to cross that finish line. You are motivated to get to the end and actually attain the result for what you signed up for. I signed up for a world where I and my peers of color would be included and thought of as equals. And that’s what I intend to achieve.

I want my determination for racial justice to simply be a means to an end, and honestly, I NEED THIS TO END. I am part of a marginalized community, and here I am, once again, advocating for marginalized communities. I want my work to actually push privileged communities into actually putting in the work and acknowledging their accountability in the profiling of and bias against BIPOC individuals, and I want to do what I can to inspire BIPOC to live above those who silence us.

I am ready to be a means to an end to achieve this much-needed change.

And I’m not saying I can do it alone, but I do think that it really only takes one person to actually invoke and be intentional about the changes they make to ensure a more equitable environment for all to take part in. And, so what I’m saying is, I would be fine with doing it alone, but also I am proud to be part of the 20|20 Scholars community where I can have other individuals support this change.

We are ready…ready for racial injustice to END.

Swetha Rajagopal is a second-year student from Chandler, Arizona, who intends to double major in Biology and Global Health. She is passionate about delving into the issues of racial injustice present within the areas of housing, education, and healthcare. At Duke, Swetha is a DSG Senator on the Durham and Community Affairs Committee, and she was previously a Kenan Ethics in Place Fellow, in which she worked to expand access to healthcare for undocumented immigrants in Arizona.

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