Please indulge me as I take a moment of reflection for young people of color who are speaking out regarding the shootings yesterday. They have learned the power of audience on social media. All lives matter. The vocalist Drake penned in a letter to his fans, "No one begins their life as a hashtag. Yet the trend of being reduced to one continues."
Please. Hear what the young people of color are saying. They are rightfully afraid. They are quoting Baldwin, Drake, Trip and Tupac.
An original poem on a blog.
All we can do now is pray, fight and speak up.
What if….
What if….
What if I died senselessly in the hands of
our city’s finest?
Would I be remembered as a humble
classmate or the loud black girl in class?
Would I be remembered as the friend who
always helped you solve problems or the
friend who had a problem with herself?
Would I be remembered as the daughter
of Wendy and Brian or the daughter of a
single mother whose father wasn’t in
their life?
Would I be remembered as the friendly
Would I be remembered as the friendly
girl who always came to you with a smile
or the girl who always ignored your
existence?
Does my many years of accomplishments
Does my many years of accomplishments
matter? Or are they just being buried with
me as well?
Would they honor my life or tarnish it
right in front of my moms eyes?
Would I even be human to them?
Does.
My Black Life.
Matter?
On Instagram
"As I was looking for the news I didn't know the name of the victim so I searched "Black Man" and the results are just as horrible as what I was searching. Didn't we just do this yesterday? Last month? Last year? I want to ask why won't it stop? But it's relevant as to why. My prayers go out to the families of these tragedies. But we have to start acting now. The time of witnessing and mourning is over. If you don't know. A man was shot dead while sitting in his car after being pulled over for a busted tail light with his girlfriend and a child in the car. If you want more info go search and inform yourselves. But as I was watching towards the end the woman broke down from it and you can hear her little girl saying "It's ok mommy I'm here with you." Those words immediately put me in tears. THIS #@#@ WILL STOP! By our own hands and will and mind to change this system. We've done it once now it's time to do it again. That could have been any one of my family members or loved one. It could have been anyone of yours as well. This awareness through social media is beautiful but if we don't make any moves it'll forever be a hashtag with a growing list of our fallen. This is war and if you don't view it as so you're missing the point. They mad as hell when we say #blacklivesmatter not realizing we're furious to have to say it at all. Tomorrow I hope I don't wake up to watch another murder movie on FB or worse, I hope I'm not the one staring in it. #thisismorethanahashtag#TimeToFightBack #rip
