Grace Seidel

2020 

I wrote this piece a while ago, and my dad told me that it is really good, so I thought I would publish it. 

The March

It was a cold night. Too cold for being in the heart of South Carolina. Covering myself with the one thin comforter I had on my bed. Curling into a ball, shivering. I couldn’t take it. I jumped up from my bed drenched in cold sweat while keeping a steady heavy breath. Sitting in the middle of my twin bed staring out the window. It was almost dawn. I started to analyze how the Sun started to come up. Very subtle light shining through my window into my small room. Trees filled with birds in their nests and the leaves moving to the slim breeze of the wind. Once I slowed down my breathing I cleaned all the sweat from my fatigued body. Putting my head back in exhaustion not ready to take on today I climbed out of bed onto the creaking wood floor. My toes curled to the touch as I walked out of my room into the small bathroom I shared with my older siblings. Running cold water on my face to wake me up I looked into the mirror. My dark skin. Looking from the top of my head to the tips of my fingers I didn’t feel right. It felt as if my skin color was an infection. Kids laughed and pointed at me everyday. My safe place was home. Where I spent time with my loving family. Besides my family I had one other friend. She was my school friend but nothing else. We never really hung out outside of school but today is different. Today is the day our skin color makes a stand. August 28th, 1963. I am 12 years of age and I am ready to make a change. I walked down the stairs quietly so that I wouldn’t wake up my family. When I arrived in the kitchen I made myself a cup of tea and sat on the porch. Wearing my knee length plaid skirt with a white button up tucked in. Just a few minutes later my father walked outside. Standing in front of the door. With a wide stance. He had a fierce look on his face, stubborn looking almost.

During a moment of silence he broke the tension. “Honey, today is the day we stand for our race. When you walk out there have pride, don’t put down a fight, and walk with your head held high.” He said with a stern confident voice. He held contact with the sun as it was still rising. I took into account what he said. Feeling a little anxious, I was ready to fight for our freedom and rights. Time passed by and the walk was going to begin in a few hours. My sister and brother were making signs for us to hold at the walk. Cardboard was on the kitchen table with black markers laying around them. Words cover the cardboard “We demand voting rights now!” “We demand an end to bias now!” My brother was hyper focused on writing the words on the board perfectly. My father was sitting in our living room reading the daily newspaper. Flipping through each page eager to know what is on the next one. As for my mother and sister they were upstairs doing their hair. I didn’t feel as if I had a place to do anything so I decided to go upstairs. Walking into my room I grabbed my favorite book and sat on my bed eager to dive in and read the pages. I was just about to start a new chapter until my brother came into my room. He said with impatience in his voice “It’s time!”. Putting my bookmark in place with my book I let out a sigh of excitement and ran downstairs. My parents went over rules before we left. They knew there was going to be a lot of people so they specifically said we had to stay together. The more they blabbered on I got more anxious that something bad was going to happen. I gulped in fear then focused back into the conversation. As the last words came out of my fathers mouth we headed out. Once we got closer to the capitol more and more people started to show up. Signs everywhere, loud voices, and people ready to fight for freedom. Touching shoulder to shoulder with strangers and the heat of the blaring sun the moment felt surreal. Then he came out to the stand.

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history.” Martin Luther King Jr said with a sincere voice. As he continued to talk the crowd was filled with anticipation. People of all color, age, and gender were listening to one person. I took in the moment because I never wanted to forget this. Within minutes he finished his speech. The crowd filled with clapping and yelling of eagerness. A smile formed on my face realizing that we are making the change. It was happening right before my very own eyes. I snapped out of my gaze and saw my mother was yelling my name. She motioned for me to come over to her so that we could get out of there. While walking home my family and I had some fun. My brother started to recite some of the speech we heard. He said he was going to be just like him. With a wide eager smile on his face the rest of our family continued to laugh with him at his big future plans. For a moment there was silence but once I looked up we were back at our house. Before I went in my mom stopped me. She turned me around and looked me right in the eyes. She said “Honey this is it. Things are going to change around here.” with a comforting smile. I gave one back and gave her a tight hug before I went inside. Having a sigh of relief I knew everything was going to be okay.