“Change” by Michelle Yeboah
CHANGE
- This story takes place after YR won his debate against the UK Leader in “The House of Reggie’s Tv Show Season 3”.
Clichés are often cringy for lack of a better word but what happens when you yourself become the embodiment of a bevy of clichés? Let me explain, it has been several weeks since I won the debate against the U.K’s Prime Minister – the people chose me, the people put their faith in me and now all of a sudden I understand the gravity behind ‘Heavy is the head that wears the crown.’, I understand the truth behind ‘With great power comes great responsibility’. Because now I find myself in a place where the lives of over sixty million people are in the palm of my hand. And truly though I feel an undeniable amount of pride – I feel an overwhelming sense of fear and pressure – because I have no choice but to do right by these people, no choice but to deliver. The battle is over and yet the war has just begun (you see another cliché).
As die hard supporters of the former Prime Minister threaten revolt. There are news reports citing that crime is up in the areas where she had the most support. I should have expected this and yet it comes as a gut wrenching surprise. Can’t these supporters see the misery that they have been marinating in? – or is it the case that misery is all they’re use to that they cannot fathom anything else…or they are scared of anything else?
However change is coming and the whispers of it move violently through the country as I sit in a small black owned coffee shop adorned with books that celebrate black excellence and books that remind us of our torturous past. I’ve ordered a hot chocolate, the waitress with honey brown waist length locs tells me excitedly that the coco beans were imported from Ghana and I smile as I remember the time I spent there trying to reconnect with the roots that were once violently severed. In front of me a blank Microsoft word document stares at me…I feel like it’s taunting me. Asking me how I a black man from the United States expects to overturn centuries of institutionalised racism, poverty, sexism and ableism. My hands hover over my keyboard, slowly I bring my fingers down and I type. When I am done the only words that appear on my screen are ‘What am I doing?’ I get up from my seat deciding that stretching my legs could possibly help recirculate some blood to my brain and activate some fresh ideas. My legs take me over to the bookcase and my eyes land on a book about Martin Luther King Jr I flip through the leather bound book eventually landing on this passage ‘You don’t have to see the whole staircase, you just have to take the first step’. I smile as I realise I had been going about this all wrong, I was trying to devise a plan with the hopes of changing happening overnight, relying on my ideas and what I thought needed to be done and I alone. That’s where the problem was – a nation isn’t made up of one person but many all with different ways of living.
I walk back to my table and gathered my things, I knew what I had to do.
***
It had taken more time than anticipated but with the help of my brothers I organised a rally and now I was in front of thousands of people all eager to hear what I had to say about my plans for change but the truth is I wasn’t there to tell them about my change. I was there to tell them that I am committed to manifesting their change, to tell them that I am devoted to being that available ear that had been missing for so long. Since that was the only way that true change would come and stay.
That’s the first step.
Article Written by:
Michelle Yeboah
Publisher:
The RHTV Network