[ April 27, 2016]
When I walked into the office on Monday, it was an unusually somber tone. Our Racial Empowerment Collaborative at the University of Pennsylvania is involved in various programming throughout Philadelphia, and I was informed that a student in one of our groups was murdered over the weekend by gunfire. The youth was a former classroom student of the group leader so he was particularly affected.
When the office cleared out, I looked at the large computer monitor that I promised to fill up with words and figures and statistics. But it kinda mocked me in that moment. “What does your paper have to do with the realities of these families and kids on these streets? How does a paper that takes 2 years to hit actually do any good? What’s your purpose? Riana??”
Click on the title to read my full post on MEDIUM.