Agent Jane Doe 1: The Catalyst

Long Way to Go

"Make America white again!" a mob chants as they march down the streets. They continue to shout racist slogans, some too horrific to repeat. I watch in horror as a man yanks an African American man from the sidewalk.

"What is going on? Who's behind this?" I ask Trevan.

"Don't they dare treat my Mathias like that!" Isabella roars as she runs after the mob.

"Isabella, wait! It's too dangerous!" Trevan runs after Isabella. I follow suit.

"You mess with my boyfriend, you go through me!" Isabella throws herself upon the African American man and glares at the man who yanked him.

"Outta the way. We're on a mission to make America white again," the man growls.

"What is wrong with you people?!!" Isabella huffs. I could see her tearing up a bit. "Mathias is a human, just like you all! Can't you treat him like your brother?"

"He's nothing to us. Immigrants and foreigners are the reason for America's overpopulation problem. We need to get them out,"

I remember watching the news one time where the news anchors were talking about the overpopulation in America. According to a source, America adds about three million people to its population PER YEAR. Isn't that a lot? Look, I know America's only got so much room for immigrants and foreigners, but kicking them out? I hear some families emigrated from the Middle East during the ISIS conflicts in the 2010s. If they get deported, then where will they go? How would they survive?

"Get her!" one of the mobsters shouts. Suddenly, the mob begins to close in on Isabella and Mathias.

"Why did she defend him?" I ask Trevan. "She knew she was gonna get hurt, but why do it?" Doing such a thing nowadays means one gets ousted, like when I defended Christian at the party. That's why for the longest time, I never stuck up for anybody. I was always a bystander, watching bullies torment their targets for ages. I regret not standing up for them. Just imagine how Mathias felt when Isabella defended him. Like back then. I wanted someone to stick up for me, to do the right thing. But nobody did. I'm sure somebody wanted to but did not for the same reasons as mine.

"Jojo, take this as an opportunity to learn to stand up for what's right. Being racist is wrong, along with being sexist, discriminatory, and homophobic. If society would learn to do just that, the world would be a much happier place," Trevan notes. Witnessing an act of injustice just makes me want to punch all these mobsters in the face. Why can't people learn to love each other, to accept people for who they are? Where is the love?

"Are you okay?" Isabella asks Mathias once they escape the angry mob.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mathias dusts himself off.

"Not for long," Trevan shakes his head as he points forward. I turn around to see the mob heading towards us.

"Run to the car! Now!" Isabella shrieks as the four of us head off to a silver Audi resting in the parking lot.

"Get in, right now!" Trevan opens the door and shoves me inside. Within seconds, Isabella takes off at the speed of light. The mob comes at us with torches and pitchforks at the ready as they cry chants of pro-white supremacy.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Isabella mumbles as she suddenly swerves right. I feel myself whiplashing in that direction.

"I'm not liking this," Mathias shakes his head as Isabella puts the car in reverse. Seconds later, the car backs out of the parking lot. Isabella gasps as a pitchfork is thrown at the windshield and jerks the car left. More torches and pitchforks are hurled at the windshield, setting the car on fire.

"Everybody, out of the car, now!" Trevan shouts as we quickly unbuckle our seatbelts and jump outside. Isabella watches in horror as her car begins to burn up in flames.

"Izzy, we've got no time to waste, c'mon!" Mathias grabs Isabella by the hand as the mob comes after us.

"Get them!" the leader of the mob screams. We run for our lives down sidewalks, bridges, and whatever surface one could name until we hit a dead end.

"What now?" I gasp as I watch the mob close in on us.

"I never wanted to do this, but whatever," Trevan pulls out a gun and starts shooting the mobsters, who drop dead to the floor like rag dolls. I like how Trevan manages to keep his cool during this problem. How does he do it? If I'm alone during this dilemma, I would crawl into a corner and cry. Because I'm with him, I feel a sense of calmness, like everything's gonna be alright.

Sirens wail as police cars arrive on the scene. Multiple policemen from each car emerge and spray pepper gas at the mobsters, who start coughing immediately.

"Are you okay?" a policeman asks us.

"We're fine, thank you," Isabella coughs as we all watch several people get put in handcuffs.

"You can't do that! The president encourages this kinda shit!" the leader of the mob protests.

"Just because the president encourages this does not mean it is morally right. You have every right to assemble and protest as long as things do not get violent," the policeman lectures.

"Damn," the leader shakes his head as he gets into the police car. Within seconds, all of the cars drive off and the crowd disperses. Only us four and a policewoman remain.

"I don't understand why the president allows these things to happen. If you wanna protest, protest for the right reasons, like the Women's March in 2017." the policewoman states.

"The Women's March? They protested for women, people of color, and the LGBT community." I say.

"I was at the Women's March. There were a lot of people gathered to protest for a lot of people's rights. It was eye-opening. It made me realize that I should fight for what I believe in. Anyway, I gotta head out. Take care of yourselves, okay?"

"I will," I nod as I watch the woman walk off. Witnessing this protest-turned-riot makes me realize that things are not as good as I thought they once were. I used to think that high school problems were the only problems that existed. Now, I realize just how messed up things can be. Now, I know that treating someone with contempt just because of their skin color is wrong, along with other things.

I pity the kids back at school, who know nothing of how terrible things really are. What does Jolee think about what happens in the world? Christian knows just how messed up things are. But what about the mean girls Kylie and Cynthia? I bet Kylie is still innocent in the sense that she is overprotected or something. Something tells me she is blind to the effects of events like the riot. I agree about Cynthia, too. The first step to ending this once and for all is to decide to fight. And after witnessing this, I choose to fight. Not for my own personal gain, not for my reputation, but for what is right.

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Author's Note: So Jojo has chosen to fight for what is right. Good for her! What are you willing to fight for?