Taking a moment away from reporter Brianna and over to human Brianna: a Black woman who is the daughter, sister, cousin, niece, girlfriend, friend to Black men. I keep opening and closing Twitter bc it’s hard to find the words to explain why I hope no one looks at my (cont.)

(2) Boyfriend sideways while he walks my dog through a majority white neighborhood or goes on a run. Why I pray for my brother’s safety constantly bc he’s one of the few black swimmers on his swim team and might be the only one questioned by police if he and his teammates

(3) Were to get pulled over. I have experienced my own share of racism personally as a Black woman. But when walking with either my brother or boyfriend (or both) I can FEEL the way others see two over 6 ft black men and automatically feel threatened. It’s palpable. And scary.

(4) So every Black man or woman who dies and gets shared on the news and social media is a reminder that it can be the ones I love at any time. It doesn’t matter how smart, sweet, and funny they are. Because first they are only seen as Black men, which to many just means a threat

(5) My heart hurts with everything I’m seeing. Every Black parent hopes their kids won’t see this side of America and yet in every generation it continues. Just like my parents, I hope something changes before I have kids of my own. But America’s pattern is proving that unlikely