A Walk In My Shoes – Karli K’s Personal Reflections

To try and educate others on why black lives matter is so tiring and so exhausting.

Black men and women deserve basic human rights just as everyone else.  Rather than spewing a ton of information at you, I thought it would be a good idea to share the thoughts that run through my mind on an everyday basis.

There are good days, just as there are bad days. There are days where I’m completely fine and there are days where I have so much anxiety I don’t want to leave the house. I ask God to keep me and my family safe from all danger seen and unseen because leaving home as a black woman or black man is sometimes frightening.

I have to think about everything I do. I have to think about what my hair looks like. I can’t play my music too loud at home or in my car. I can’t walk around my neighborhood without the thought of my neighbors calling the police because I look suspicious. The way my heart skips several beats when a police officer is behind me is alarming.

I’m constantly reminded that I have to work ten times harder to be even considered equal. I’m constantly followed around stores that I walk into. I’m cautious about my hands being in my pockets anywhere I go because they might think I’m stealing or have a weapon.

I can’t even tell you the amount of times someone has called me a racial slur, but there is no way I’m allowed to be angry or I am immediately looked at as the threat. The scariest part of it all is knowing the fact that there are some people that genuinely want me dead just based on the color of my skin.

If you’ve never had to think about any of these situations then you have a privilege no black person in America will ever have. There are so many ways you can use that privilege to combat hate, but it starts with educating yourself.

We have to come together. We need love. We need change. We need it now.

One of the core principles of 94.5 PST and Townsquare Media is "You Matter." This speaks to our commitment to our employees and our community. On Tuesday, June 2, we stopped regular programming to join with the music industry's #TheShowMustBePaused initiative on Blackout Tuesday. Our staff used the time to reflect upon our feelings and how we plan to be apart of a culture of change. Click here to read more. The above represents some of Karli K's reflections from that day.