When I woke up on Friday morning, I was refreshed by the good things that had taken place the day before. On that Thursday, I had watched my fellow classmates cross the stage to transition into the next stage of their lives simply by grabbing their diplomas.
High school graduation never seemed so exciting until I noticed the huge grins on my peers' faces as they threw their tassels in the air. After years and years of completing grade after grade and working hard in their academics, they've achieved success and are now on the road to the beginning of their careers.
As I thought about how important the day before was, reality brought to my attention of all of the responsibility that will now be expected of us. In a few months time, my friends will have to provide more for themselves and all of the discipline they've learned in their life will be tested.
Graduation from high school is the American rite of passage, so to celebrate the success of my friend's progression, we decided to go to the mall the day after graduation.
Earlier that morning, it was raining so I grabbed my hoodie and went to his house. Although my friend lived a few blocks away from me, it seemed as if police cars were on almost every corner and analyzing every move I made.
His mom was so enthusiastic about her son finishing high school that she cooked a full-course meal for him and I before we left the house. I can still remember the last words she had said to us.
"Make sure you guys stay safe. You are men now and people will treat you in the way you present yourself."
Little did I know that that same advice would be essential for me to apply to get through the day alive.
As soon as we left the house, we had walked straight to the bus stop on Frayser Blvd, contented on buying new clothes that were sure to make us the main attraction wherever we went.
Then, all of the sudden, I had heard two doors close behind me. I wasn't exactly sure of who or what was behind me, so I didn't really pay the unknown cars any attention until two, tall, bulky police officers walked right behind the bus stop and stood in front of me.
The first thing that was on my mind was that I was scared; I was scared of the people that were obligated to protect me. The policemen approached us dubiously and started asking us a lot of questions. We respectively co-operated with them but at the same time, my friend and I were confused on why we were being questioned; we didn't even know why they had stopped us.
The tallest officer had started asking me for my ID, so I told him that I didn't have it. The next moment, the bus had started to pull up so I jumped up to flag it down, hoping to get the bus driver's attention in case we needed a witness because, honestly, I was afraid of becoming the next Trayvon Martin. The same police officer told me that if I moved again, I would regret it.
Did I do anything I wasn't supposed to?
Why were we suspected of doing wrong?
The bus driver asked the officers if we were getting on. They agreed to let us on after searching us, so I reached in my pocket for my bus card. I immediately realized that it wasn't the best choice for me to make at the time when both officers grabbed their on to their holsters in defense.
Everything had escalated so quickly. As soon as I realized that they were reaching for their guns, I put my hands into the air and screamed "Don't shoot!"
I watched people on the bus get up and record what we had to go through. I felt as if my life could have simply been taken away that moment. My friend's mother's last words came to mind.
I had done everything I was supposed to do.
I didn't do anything wrong.
Why was this happening to us?
It seemed as if time had stopped, but, eventually, they let their guard down.
After searching us and pulling up our files, they apologized. They had told us that they were looking for someone and I had fit the description and that we were good to go.
When we got on the bus, all eyes were on us. People started asking questions about the situation they had just witnessed. I responded, "We were innocent. The police were looking for someone else", and that my friend and I were simply thankful that the situation didn't intensify to anything worse. The entire bus ride was silent until we got to the mall.
At the end of the day, I actually learned a lot from this experience. I knew for sure that if I had made the wrong decision, I could've been another black teen famous for being killed by the people charged with protecting the lives of the innocent.
