Jason Brown II, candidate for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District
This letter was submitted by Jason Brown II, a college student, member of the Dinwiddie County School Board and independent candidate for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District.
I’m amazed that there aren’t waves of VCU students writing to the school administration, demanding tuition reimbursement. I know, in some faraway parallel universe where students are empowered the way that they should be, there are students who do exactly that and win. But I can’t use up this whole letter writing about the wonders of Dnomhcir; I have to write about the realities of Richmond.
In Richmond, higher education is for-profit. Student housing is a charge, meals are a charge, textbooks are a charge, transcript requests are a charge — access to knowledge comes with an unaffordable price tag. But you have to sign up for it, right? The alternative is either military service (not a good time to join …) or wildcard uncertainty (not a good time to try your luck …). So you sign the dotted line in hopes that a college degree (a piece of paper in which we put our faith … kind-of like dollar bills) can guarantee you a shot at a better life. In effect, we become professional gamblers before the end of freshman year.
Now in Dnomhcir — that parallel universe I mentioned — it’s wildly different. See, in Dnomhcir, people don’t go to war, immigration isn’t criminalized and billionaires don’t exist; so society has the money to offer free education. In Dnomhcir, people acknowledge that access to knowledge is a right, so they prioritize it, not commodify it. In Dnomhcir, shooting stars replace missiles, playgrounds replace prisons and humanity replaces greed.
Things weren’t always this way; Dnomhcir used to mirror Richmond rather perfectly. And now, it’s our time to mirror Dnomhcir.
We are the future. And while we’re the inheritors of quite a number of crises, we get to decide whether things get darker or if we’d rather let the light in. Education, much like health care and housing, can be a guarantee. We can create a future of peace over war. We can run with the torch being passed to us or we can drop it and create a wildfire. The choice is ours, and it’s time to make a decision.
You’re paying VCU, but how close are we to VCU paying you? It’s time to be more like Dnomhcir. I plan to fight for that.
Will you join me?
Sincerely,
Jason Brown II, candidate for Congress, college student and Dnomhcir frequenter