Ladies and gentlemen, I have worked with kids just out of "juvie" or on their way there. Inhad a trash can thrown at me, had a girl try to choke me, had a girl grab my ponytail & try to slam my head on a brick wall. These girls are fighters bc it keeps them ALIVE.

Children in "the System" are traumatized & have not awesome coping skills but they are SURVIVORS.

In my job, I had to de-escalated these girls.

Once, with a plastic knife in hand, one was threatening peers another girl pulled a razor on herself & me. I was spit on frequently & had fluids thrown on me that would make you retch.

Not once did I think "these girls need to die." Ever.

#MakiahBryant should be alive.