As Told To Phillip Jackson

Chance Calloway is a college freshman at Georgia State University, where he majors in film studies. He found hope in the convictions of the murderers of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery but is still wishing for America to truly reckon with its issues of racism.

I love my school. The community is bigger than my hometown in Jefferson, Georgia, and the racial demographics of my beloved college stick with me.

Georgia State is a “PWI,” a predominantly white institution. But the population of Black students at the school is not small, and I value that in my day-to-day experiences.

Before college, I often attended school with mostly white students. When the school day would end, I’d come back home — and that is where I felt like myself the most. Those emotions I developed hit even harder in 2020, after Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd were all killed.

I was just an 11th grade high school student, but pressures around my identity and political stances as a young Black teen quickly became a priority. Often in the house or at school because of the pandemic, I could not help but see the news every day.

When I saw the rise in coronavirus cases nationwide, it motivated me to get vaccinated, get my mask and stay sanitized. It opened my eyes to realize that you can lose anyone in the blink of an eye. And by the grace of God, I never experienced a family member dying. The deaths and what I saw others go through made me really want to look at my own health and look at my peers and family, and want to be here for a good and long time.

I want to be an actor because my dream as a child was to change the world through my acting. Acting to me is a place where you can lose yourself for a short time and be someone else. For a long time I have looked up to Tyler Perry, who is one of the reasons why I got into acting. He came from nothing — began with screenplays and now is making box office hits — and now he is a household name. Perry’s social media posts are inspirational, and that is why I follow him.

But social media can come with its positives and negatives. After the end of former President Donald Trump’s term, the political leadership of the country has shifted, but dialogue on equal rights and holding politicians accountable has remained the same.

In summer 2020, I found myself constantly arguing with people who were on the other side and who were in the wrong. No matter what George Floyd’s past was, he did not deserve to die. Not only was I doing it on social media, I was verbally expressing myself at school. I had to constantly fight for George Floyd’s name.

In the past year, the ex-police officer in Minnesota, Derek Chauvin, was convicted for murdering George Floyd. Following that conviction, three white men who chased and gunned down Ahmaud Arbery were convicted of felony murder and sentenced to prison. I found hope in these two events but viewed them as just the beginning to addressing the broader issues America has had with racism since before I was even alive.

With George Floyd’s case, we got the victory in that, but it is a small stepping stone. But many of us want a higher level of accountability. I’m not looking for politicians to “pump us up,” but I want to find the solution myself. I keep my hope by having faith in God.

In order for Black people to get the real change we need in America, we will have to find a way to look at ourselves and ignite that feeling amongst the group of people as a whole.

In order for us to progress, we have to do it for ourselves. If we expect for anyone, a politician to help us, and we can’t get along with our brothers — why would we need an outside savior? We have to change within each other. That change can come in many forms.