At this moment it is really hard to come up with the right words or correct phrases to express the pain and frustration I feel along with so many others...

At this moment it is really hard to come up with the right words or correct phrases to express the pain and frustration I feel along with so many others. We all watched the horrific video over and over. But that wasn’t the first video, that wasn’t the first time we saw a black body being brutalized, maimed, and mangled. As a Black person you see it everyday in many different ways and in many different forms. From so called micro-aggressions (which don’t feel micro) to full on racists and brutal acts like we saw most recently with the murder of George Floyd and continue to see on a daily basis.

As a community we are tired and fed up with generational trauma of being treated less than as american citizens. We’ve seen our parents experience it, their parents experience it, and so on from the time the first beautiful Black Kings and Queens arrived on the shores of this nation. What’s happening in this moment and in this time is a manifestation of so much hurt and so much pain that even while trying to write this one feels overwhelmed. As James Baldwin once said, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” We are seeing a visible representation of that rage burning “from sea to shining sea”.

As the soul of america hangs in the balance do you focus in on damage that can be repaired or do you decide to focus on how to make a change. This country owes a debt to Black people that can never truly be repaid.

Moving forward the burden is not on Black people to fix this, the burden is on those who have stood by silently and allowed privilege to blind in such a way they see nothing wrong. There has been an awakening...I’ve seen it at the protests, in speaking with family and friends. We are tired and we won’t let up!

NO JUSTICE NO PEACE!