High School Writing: “The Redacted Page” by Jayla Matthews

2nd PLACE HIGH SCHOOL

The Redacted Page
They were up against money
That buys silence
Laws written to protect men like him
And a system that calls girls “complicit”
Before it ever calls men “guilty.”
They knew how this would usually end
They knew who the court would listen to
They knew how power closes ranks
They spoke anyway.
They spoke in a country
Where girls are taught to doubt themselves
Before they doubt authority

Where victims are interrogated harder than perpetrators
Where justice has a price tag.
They were asked why they waited
Why they didn’t fight harder
As if survival were consent
as if poverty was a choice
Still, they named what happened
They stood in front of men
Who had always been believed
And told a story the system worked overtime to erase

That was courage
Not quiet endurance.
Not forgiveness.
But resistance.
Refusing to protect the world.
That never protected them.
Every word they said
Exposed the lie
That power is innocent
That wealth is harmless
That girls should stay quiet
To keep them comfortable

It took thousands of living women
To show the true colors of one dead man
The system failed
But their voices didn’t
They spoke and power cracked.

10th Grade, Alain LeRoy Locke College Prep Academy
Guiding Teacher: Dev Orloff