Natasha is a seemingly simple African American woman. She is up early at her job preparing for a rally that is supposed to happen later that day with her group Live Through Me, a group of survivors. These men and women are survivors of being bystanders/ witnesses to the murder/ death of their loved ones. For Natasha she was just feet away from her fiancé when he was shot and killed by a police officer. This is not a story focused on injustice as much as it is a story about accepting those injustices and finding your footing to move forward. It is a story that reminds us that experiencing something like that can affect you for the rest of your life. Natasha suffers from PTSD from her experience and has to find her way back to living her life instead of figuring out ways to end her life. After a long road to recovery and with the support of her family she finally gets both feet back on the ground and she begins to forward. She begins her organization Live Through Me so that her and the other survivors can have a place to come together, feel supported, and be held up by others that have walked the horrific mile in their shoes. She now lives to advocate for those who have died, and stand hand in hand with those who feel like the best part of them is gone. Finding a reason to live can sometimes make life not worth living, but if you seek it and truly work on finding your road to recovery you can break through all of the noise and once again find your silence that you have been searching for.
Advocating for Silence
Up unlocking doors at 5 o’clock on a Saturday morning getting ready for a rally. I can laugh about it now because I definitely never thought this would be my life. That might be one of the biggest mistakes that we make, thinking that we have control or believing that we know what’s next when the honest to God truth is, we don’t know anything until that day is lived. I really try to live my life day by day now. Recognizing that there are only so many things I have control over, understanding that every single day I can make a choice but also accepting that there are so many variables that I have zero control over. And really accepting that when life gives you lemons sometimes you cut them open and realize they are spoiled and rotten and not worthy of lemonade. Try putting that in a greeting card.