Kyah Creekmore

My Story, Our Struggle

I was raised in the very conditions this system was built to keep us trapped in. That’s why I’m fighting to break them.

My Lived Experience

I was born to a mother who had me at 15 years old. She raised four kids on her own without a high school diploma, working two or three jobs at a time just to give us a shot at survival. She sacrificed everything to make sure I could become a first-generation college student at North Carolina A&T, fulfilling the dream she had carried for me since I was a child.

We moved every two years, and I went through nine different schools from kindergarten to graduation. Some of those schools were in poor neighborhoods with run-down buildings and trailers as classrooms, while others had resources, art supplies, and shiny new facilities. That constant shifting showed me how unfairly opportunity is divided, all depending on your ZIP code.

At home, we often did not have enough. I watched my mom come back from long shifts with no energy, depression weighing heavy, and still trying to make ends meet with money orders from Amscot, nonprofit assistance for light bills, or layaway for clothes and toys. Despite having little herself, she always opened our home to other single mothers and their kids who had nowhere to go.

I saw my little brother spend weeks in the hospital and then come home only to face Medicaid red tape just to get the medicine he needed. I saw family members with diabetes stress over affording insulin, knowing their lives depended on it. These were not statistics, this was my family.

I worked in corporate retail jobs that drained me of time and dignity, demanding everything while giving back barely enough to scrape by. Those experiences did not just show me hardship, they showed me how a system designed to grind people down really works.

And I have seen how that same system treats our land, water, and air. Right here in North Carolina, corporations are pushing projects like the Williams Transco pipeline that would cut across more than 100 waterways, including the reservoirs that supply Greensboro’s drinking water. Transco has one of the worst safety records in the country, yet they are trusted with projects that put entire communities at risk of explosions, toxic air, and poisoned water. Across the country it is the same story, whether it is pipelines or massive data centers draining power and polluting majority Black and working-class communities. The poorest families are left with the health problems and the bills while billionaires walk away richer. I know this because I have seen it and lived in the kinds of neighborhoods that are always first in line to bear the cost. 

My Beliefs Shaped by Experience 

Because of what I lived, I know what it looks like when systems fail people, and I know we deserve better.

I believe no one should wake up wondering if they can afford their insulin, their child’s medicine, or their rent. No one should wonder if their school is a place of learning or just a neglected building with trailers for classrooms. No one should put in full shifts at corporate jobs and still be stuck on government assistance while CEOs announce record profits.

I believe housing is not a luxury, it is a human right. Every other living thing on this planet has a place to live or it dies. Humans should be no different.

I believe we must stop blaming poor people for conditions they did not create. Working families did not decide that land would cost a fortune. Working families did not create an economy where millions of tons of food are wasted while workers go hungry. Corporations did, and they get away with it because politicians protect them instead of protecting us.

I believe our air, water, and soil are not bargaining chips for corporations. Climate justice is not about abstract numbers, it is about children breathing clean air, families drinking safe water, and communities having the right to thrive instead of being sacrificed for profit.

I have seen nearly every part of our broken system. That’s not a weakness, that’s EXACTLY what qualifies me to fight for the reforms we desperately need. 

I am running because I want better for all of us. Healthcare for all. Fully and fairly funded schools and teacher pay. Dignity and power for workers through real unions. A country where we don’t wake up to news of another school shooting (updated: praying for the families in Minnesota) or another quarter of record corporate profits while families cannot afford groceries.

We are one species: human. And if we are serious about justice, then it is time to build an America that finally treats us like it.