tomorrow isn't just a day to take a vacation and watch fireworks. less than 250 years ago, some (mostly slave owning) white men wrote that they deserved life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- and that they had the right to abolish any government that stood in their way.

they said: "but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."

they wrote a list of all the ways that they had been oppressed -- depriving them of trial by jury, trying them for "pretended offences," burning their towns, sending "swarms of officers to harrass our people," and establishing protections for people who murdered them.

it's pretty hard to ignore the parallels with how this country has treated Black Americans and non-white people overall. school to prison pipelines, segregating schools and neighborhoods through redlining, protecting racist police with qualified immunity, oppressing voters..

.. in every way, systematically denying (literally) life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

tomorrow, i will be thankful for the protestors -- especially #BlackLivesMatter  protestors -- pushing our country to be better, more just, more aware, and more equal.

i will be thankful for those working to protect our vulnerable friends, family, neighbors, and fellow americans -- citizens and non-citizens -- from our racist, sexist, discriminatory government. i'll be thankful for everyone who is moving this country to be better.

i'll be donating to these 15 organizations, as well as Elijah Mcclain's (a fellow coloradan) memorial fund:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ab_mn 
https://www.gofundme.com/f/elijah-mcclain

and tomorrow i'll have conversations with my friends and family. i'm starting here. i hope you'll join me in donating. we have a long way to go to make sure the promise some white men made 244 years ago is actually realized.