Why must race come before everything, even the dreams of our youngest Americans?

A year ago, a video went viral showing a young boy of about ten or 11-years-old who was dressed in a policeman’s uniform. His neighbors were bullying him. Some even shook their body parts at him in a degrading fashion. How could he, a Black boy, be so foolish as to support their public enemy, the police? Throughout all this, the boy stood there with a stoic face and maintained his composure. 

When I saw that video, I was appalled by the bad faith in it. Had we become so jaded as a society that we mocked a child for the dream of becoming a police officer and serving the people? Would he have been mocked if he declared his ambition was to be a rapper? 

People in neighborhoods like these tell us that police departments need more folks that look like them. Yet when one of their own dares to dream this dream, they twerk in front of him. 

This video angered me and I showed it around my community.  We have to be better than this, I said. We have to encourage young dreamers like this young man.

DJ DANIEL,13-YEAR-OLD BRAIN CANCER SURVIVOR, THANKS TRUMP FOR SURPRISE HONOR DURING SPEECH TO CONGRESS

A few weeks ago, I watched President Donald Trump honor a young 13-year-old boy, Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel, during his Joint Address to Congress. “[DJ] has always dreamed of becoming a police officer,” the president explained during his speech. “But in 2018, DJ was diagnosed with brain cancer.”

“The doctors gave him five months at most to live,” Trump added. “That was more than six years ago. Since that time, DJ and his dad have been on a quest to make his dream come true.” 

DJ has received honorary badges from 908 police agencies across the nation. He surpassed his original goal of 100 badges.

“I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service,” said Trump as the audience chanted, “DJ!” It was a touching moment, a good faith moment. 

Afterward, I watched a new video of DJ where he had the poise of a soul mature beyond his years. He spoke of how he lives with cancer: “I’m gonna keep on going until my gas tank runs out. And that’s when God calls you home. You never know when God’s gonna call you home.”

That’s it. That’s it right there. That’s how you live life. I shared this video widely. 

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To my surprise, my friend sent me the viral video from a year ago showing the young boy being made fun of for wearing a police uniform and told me that it was DJ. I looked more closely and it was him. I couldn’t believe him. I felt a mixture of emotions.

On the one hand, I was proud of him for sticking to his dream, a path that took him from that ugly incident into a room in our nation’s capitol with the most powerful men and women of the land. That’s what believing in oneself and one’s dream does.

On the other hand, I was filled with disgust. In that viral video, his own neighbors were mocking and bullying him. What does that say about his own people? Is there anything more shameful than trashing the dreams of a young American? 

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DJ didn’t find support on those mean streets but he found it in the nation’s capitol. 

In many ways, I think those two videos of DJ illustrate clearly the battle that faces us Americans. The bad faith video mocked his American Dream and the good faith video showed a young man living bravely in the face of an immensely unfair sentence. Bad faith gets us nowhere whereas good faith knows no bounds and no limits on strength. I see in DJ a man, yes, a man, of good faith and may God bless him for never surrendering it. 

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