I just finished watching #WhenTheySeeUs on @netflix and can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t stop thinking about every sweet black and brown boy (including my own son) who must live an existence of constriction for the sake of others. /thread

I think about every time I hear someone say they don’t see color and I can smell the raw stench of moral superiority, and choke on the nausea that accompanies these words. /1

I think about every time I hear someone say that they should be absolved of any sin because they have friends of color. Or every time someone asked me if they could just call me some made up name because they were too lazy to actually call me by the name I was given. /2

I think about the fact that no matter how hard some people work, they will end up being paid 52 cents for every dollar someone else earns; and how they better not complain lest they be seen as ungrateful. /3

I think about how I hope to raise children who own their voice and feel confident within their identities; Children who become adults that are not ignorant or naive to the world, yet remain eternally hopeful that better is possible. /4

“You exist. You matter. You have value. You have every right to wear your hoodie, to play your music as loud as you want. You have every right to be you. And no one should deter you from being you. You have to be you. And you can never be afraid to be you.” – Ta-Nehisi Coates