Camille is in ninth grade and looks up to people who have been forced to fight through tremendous adversity. As an activist, she wants to stand up against those injustices.
I’m a dancer. I look up to people like Misty Copeland and Michaela DePrince. Misty Copeland is the first Black principal dancer at American Ballet Theater and I read her book. There was so much about her life that was hard. And Michaela was an orphan in Sierra Leone because during the war both her parents were killed. One day she found a magazine about a dancer and she held onto it. She was adopted and her new parents found the magazine and brought her into dance and now she's a famous ballerina. They both have inspiring stories and they’ve overcome a lot of struggles.
I’m interested in activism, like Black Lives Matter and feminism. Look at my shirt: “Pizza rolls not gender roles.” I just think it’s important for everyone to be treated the same. I find it really frustrating that people are put down for things they shouldn’t be, or take advantage of other people for their differences. I’m a small person, kind of shy, and I’m not good at the whole speaking out thing. But I think there are small things that you can do, like be an ally, talk to people, and convince people that the hurtful things they say —like racist or sexist things — are wrong.
Casey Kim