EDITOR'S NOTE: One of a series of stories written by Oklahoma Christian student-athletes who serve on the university's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Junior Ansel Jeffries of  Kentwood, Mich., represents men's track and field on the SAAC.

OKLAHOMA CITY (June 12, 2020) -- You are told almost your whole life that you have rights, from the constitution songs on "Schoolhouse Rock" all the way to the American History lectures in college.

Yet when you're 16, face down in a random street, asking what you did wrong, only to hear a chuckle and a, "You're good to go," you find it very hard in that moment to believe so.

In those moments, you don't run to or from anything, as bad as you want to. I was taught that when I'm pulled over, keep my hands above the steering wheel, take my seatbelt off and wait for the officer to get there.

But wasn't taught what to do if you're dragged out of the back seat of a car by the collar of your shirt. I didn't "attack" that problem head on; rather in that moment, I felt as small as I've ever felt in my life. And besides random microaggressions here and there like "I'm sure you're good at basketball," "Can you rap for us bro, I know you're good," and "Yeah, you're cute for a black guy," that was one of the first times I truly saw that my life was affected by the color of my skin.

There was no lacing up my spikes, putting my head down and running from the situation. This was as simple as, "If I move, I'm going to have a clip in my back because I "resisted arrest" or "they felt endangered." So, from then on, getting pulled over and getting a ticket isn't a funny story to me.

Seeing videos online of the gruesome murders of men who look just like me doesn't just make me sad; I am almost brought to tears of anger because in every sense of the phrase, it literally could have been me.

Trayvon Martin could have been me. Botham Jean could've been me. George Floyd could have been me. Every single one of those black men killed in those tragic situations could have been me, and there's no amount of bravery that can lift that knee from your neck, and no amount of track speed in the world that can save you from what's waiting in the barrel of their guns.

When I say that "Black Lives Matter," I say it because I pray that someone who believes they have the authority to take my life based on my skin color can hear the pain in the fact that I even have to say those words. Everyone understands that all life is important and should be cherished, as we're all children of God. But when people throw hate, violence and death at your people for hundreds of years, and the justice system, political system and educational system fail you for years, it's hard to say that "All Lives Matter" because there is a group that is treated as if their own lives does not.

You wouldn't go to a doctor with a hurting hand, a hand that's helped build everything you stand upon, and say, "Well doc, my hand is broken but make sure you pay equal attention to every bone." The world is trying to get you to focus on a group of people who have been broken and have had enough.

I understand there are those who think the term is an attack on their political views or it is tied to a group that hates cops or hates those not of their race or whatever it may be. But as a black man who runs track in college – and therefore basically for a living right now – it's a cry that my life deserves to be loved as much as any other, and that I'm done running. It is a movement.

I am done running from my fear of my skin color being the reason I am seen as "dirty/scary" or a "criminal/suspect" or a "threat." I am done running from idea of making others uncomfortable by the conversations regarding the treatment of my race. I am done running from those who think people of my skin color deserve to be treated as less than human, or to die. I am done running from my voice. Hopefully my voice inspires other athletes and those who need their voice to be heard to speak out, because the time for running is over.

It is now time to stand firm in your life and speak out against what's wrong. Speak out so that those who come after you, those who look up to you, and those who stand across from you will have that same ability and opportunity. You may think that you're "just a ____," whether that be student, student-athlete, man, woman, coach, professor. Shoot, I'm just a guy who runs track at a university in Oklahoma, but my voice will run on longer than I ever will.

So my words and the things I need to say will be said, because no matter what you see when you look at me, what I've ever done in the span of my years on this earth, we only have so many moments in this short journey we call life, and my moments matter just as much as any other person's. Until everyone feels the same way, you'll be hearing from people just like me, for a whole lot longer.