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I woke up today crying for #GeorgeFloyd, unsure of what to say.
6 years ago, #BlackLivesMatter
changed me, I remember thinking we were going to change the world. Instead, 6 years later, the same story plays out just like it has my whole life--our whole nation's history.
6 years ago, #BlackLivesMatter
changed me, I remember thinking we were going to change the world. Instead, 6 years later, the same story plays out just like it has my whole life--our whole nation's history.
When Rodney King was brutally beaten by cops in 1991 barely 15 minutes from my house, I was two years old, too young to understand.
As I grew up, I learned about the deep history of racial violence in my city, in my state, my country. This is our legacy, from slavery to now..
As I grew up, I learned about the deep history of racial violence in my city, in my state, my country. This is our legacy, from slavery to now..
Trayvon Martin's brutal murder was my breaking point. From then on I knew my life--my existence--was inescapably political.
A few years later, I found myself on a bus blocked by an early #BlackLivesMatter protest. I got off the bus, and walked into my new life as an organizer.
A few years later, I found myself on a bus blocked by an early #BlackLivesMatter
protest. I got off the bus, and walked into my new life as an organizer.
I didn't know what I was doing. Days like this, I still don't think I do.
I've organized protests
I've been tear gassed and pepper sprayed and handcuffed.
I've spoken in front of thousands and been written about in newspapers
I didn't deserve any of it.
I didn't want any of it.
I've organized protests
I've been tear gassed and pepper sprayed and handcuffed.
I've spoken in front of thousands and been written about in newspapers
I didn't deserve any of it.
I didn't want any of it.
What I want is to just have a normal life:
Where cop sirens don't fill me with fear
Where I don't think every day about the looming climate crisis
Where I didn't have to cancel my wedding for COVID-19.
Where I don't worry my brother (a bartender) might get COVID-19 and die.
Where cop sirens don't fill me with fear
Where I don't think every day about the looming climate crisis
Where I didn't have to cancel my wedding for COVID-19.
Where I don't worry my brother (a bartender) might get COVID-19 and die.
But I don't. We don't. We live in a deeply political world, an inescapably political world, one where political injustice touches every single aspect of our lives.
Where even my happiest, most joyful moments are tinged with the racism that undergirds society.
Where even my happiest, most joyful moments are tinged with the racism that undergirds society.
Less than two years ago I moved across the country to Minnesota, in with the partner I would have married a month ago but for coronavirus. A moment of love.
I moved scarcely two blocks away from the school where Philando Castile worked.
Even that moment of love, made political.
I moved scarcely two blocks away from the school where Philando Castile worked.
Even that moment of love, made political.
And now, a month after the day I would have been married, mere miles from me, yet another black man killed by a cop.
I am not unique. We all have lived near the site of police brutality. It's all around us. The stories just aren't always told.
I am not unique. We all have lived near the site of police brutality. It's all around us. The stories just aren't always told.
Now the stories are being told. But storytelling alone is not enough. Words cannot reverse injustice. We must continue to organize and continue to fight against a nation that hates us. Hates our skin, but loves our slang.
It's exhausting. It's demoralizing.
It's exhausting. It's demoralizing.
To get political, it makes me look at older black folk differently. Young people of color looked at Bernie Sanders and saw our only shot at something better.
Older black voters must have looked at him and seen only another idealist who would only bring them disappointment.
Older black voters must have looked at him and seen only another idealist who would only bring them disappointment.
I'm grateful for @sunrisemvmt in this moment. At 30, I'm used to being the youthful optimist in most rooms, but I'm one of the older organizers at Sunrise.
The optimism and hope and enthusiasm this movement has is the only thing that keeps me going some days.
The optimism and hope and enthusiasm this movement has is the only thing that keeps me going some days.
Some mornings, even that isn't enough.
We like to say that the Sunrise comes after the darkest moment. But this morning, I woke up and the sun rose but my heart did not rise with it because #GeorgeFloyd is still dead, and he will not be the last victim of police brutality.
We like to say that the Sunrise comes after the darkest moment. But this morning, I woke up and the sun rose but my heart did not rise with it because #GeorgeFloyd is still dead, and he will not be the last victim of police brutality.
I don't know how to make this country better. I don't know how to make it not hate the skin I'm in. I don't know how to make it deliver an iota of justice to people murdered by cops, or abandoned to COVID, or sacrificed to the fossil fuel lobby.
Does anybody?
Does anybody?
