Today I was searched at school.

I stood in line

to go through metal detectors

to be patted down,

to have my backpack opened

and rifled through.

I stood in line,

feeling like a criminal

as if I had done something wrong.

I stood in line

and wondered how we’d gotten here.

How have we reached a place where

there are metal detectors in schools?

And every day

new police officers walk the hallways?

A place where

our private belongings are taken

and looked through

on a daily basis?

I stood in line and wondered

how school, a safe space,

have become a deathbed

for so many innocent people,

And when I reached the end of the line,

when I walked through the metal detectors,

got patted down because

my water bottle set them off,

had my backpack and lunchbox searched,

I felt no safer.

But I was scared because

this is now necessary.

And when I left the line,

and went to class,

they handed out a survey

asking if we felt safe here

and I said no, because

today I was searched at school.