{"id":2104,"date":"2021-10-17T16:46:14","date_gmt":"2021-10-17T16:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?page_id=2104"},"modified":"2021-10-17T16:53:21","modified_gmt":"2021-10-17T16:53:21","slug":"2104-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/volume-2-fall-2021\/2104-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Year 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Courtnie Beckford<\/em><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the year 2008.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m seven years old but my parents make everything make sense.<\/p>\n

I learn I will have to work twice as hard to get half as much.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the year 2010.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re learning about slavery and the civil rights movement for black history month.<\/p>\n

For the first time, I wonder what happened before that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the year 2012,<\/p>\n

I wear a hoodie to class in solidarity, but am told to take it off.<\/p>\n

Your livelihood is up for question if you\u2019re half past a shade too dark.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the year 2014,<\/p>\n

I hear the words \u201cI can\u2019t breathe\u201d in my dreams, a man crying out for his mother.<\/p>\n

The same institution that tore open the backs of my great-grandparents bleeds into<\/p>\n

and sears my psyche.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the year 2016,<\/p>\n

Boys point out my melanated lips and wide hips and greedily rip my esteem apart.<\/p>\n

For the first time, I wonder how life would be if I weren\u2019t black.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the year 2018,<\/p>\n

Ebonics and black vernacular are considered feisty and fashionable,<\/p>\n

but ghetto or ratchet for me.<\/p>\n

I learn that there\u2019s a monopoly even on the words that pour from my mouth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the year 2019,<\/p>\n

I\u2019m angry, yet anxious.<\/p>\n

A gun shot sounds the same as a whip and I\u2019m afraid of the eternity they hold.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the year 2020,<\/p>\n

It becomes hard not to see yourself under someone\u2019s knee, gasping for a last breath.<\/p>\n

I fret over the simple things in life, so as not to<\/p>\n

become another statistic, which isn\u2019t very different than it was for my ancestors<\/p>\n

in 1965.<\/p>\n

Or 1492.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Courtnie Beckford\u00a0<\/strong>is a junior majoring in Biology, looking to go onto graduate school and become a midwife. She writes, “I once had an Instagram page that became popular where I would post short stories and poems about little thoughts that would occur to me walking to and from school in Englewood, NJ.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtnie Beckford     It\u2019s the year 2008. I\u2019m seven years old but my parents make everything make sense. I learn I will have to work twice as hard to … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":0,"parent":1821,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2104","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYear 2020 - Writers House Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/volume-2-fall-2021\/2104-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Year 2020 - Writers House Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Courtnie Beckford     It\u2019s the year 2008. I\u2019m seven years old but my parents make everything make sense. 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