CHEW ON MY BLACK TEARS

I'm tired today. Had the wind knocked out of me during those 8 minutes & 46 seconds #GeorgeFloyd had the breath crushed out of him under a White cop's knee.

People marched. Nothing changed. Then #BreonnaTaylor shot EIGHT TIMES In Her Own Bed. She was....

2) personal. I didn't know her but she was a fellow EMT. Saving lives was literally her day job. She bled out while the police who shot her rendered no aid.

People still marching. Nothing changed.

Now, we have #JacobBlake shot SEVEN TIMES In The Back for trying to break up a...

3) fight. @KenoshaPolice didn't kill Blake but they took his life just the same because he will never walk again at just 29.

People marched. Nothing changed except now comes #KyleRittenhouse with an AR-15 he legally can't carry crossing state lines looking to boogaloo w/BLM....

4) @KenoshaPolice are on video w/Kyle & the armed White militia he was with plying them all with water & praises of appreciation for their presence just moments before Kyle shoots a White BLM protester in the head.

He was chased BECAUSE & AFTER shooting Anthony Huber in the....

5) head. And yet, @KenoshaPolice didn't shoot Kyle in the back. Not even ONE time.

Instead, they Let. Kyle. Go. Despite BLM protesters screaming he'd shot people. Kyle went all the way back home to Illinois where he was finally arrested.

MSM is already showing him more....

6) humanity than Micheal Brown, Trayvon Martin, or George Floyd.

Listen to how they're already describing Rittenhouse: "a juvenile", "an aspiring cop" & the Kenosha Police Chief: "Kyle Rittenhouse was trying to resolve whatever conflict was happening". Rittenhouse's lawyers...

7) already have his defense laid AND THE POLICE CHIEF GAVE IT TO THEM.

People marched. The NBA is boycotting now. Nothing will change except the certainty that police WILL shoot another unarmed Black person.

So, I'm tired today. Because we march. Nothing changes. My mom sat...

8) in at lunch counters in the 60's. And today, when we go to the Thanksgiving Buffet at the Inn & Resort in Berkeley Springs, WV we're the only diners of color there & if the dirty looks from White diners could kill, we'd have dropped dead at the carving station.

We make....

9) sure we're gone & out of West Virginia before dark.

People marched. Little changed. So, I'm tired today. I'm tired of being told I went to my alma mater Hofstra University because of Affirmative Action & not because of my academics.

I'm tired of being told I got to be a...

10) nationally registered EMT-PARAMEDIC because the county needed to hire a quota of Black people.

I'm tired of being followed in high end stores. I'm tired of being ignored by White store clerks who assume I'm not a customer or can't afford to shop there.

I'm tired of being...

11) scared to death of seeing a White doctor because I don't know if they have medical bias towards POC.

A study by the American Medical Association found 25% of new medical residents believe Black patients have fewer pain receptors in their nerve endings & consequently feel...

12) less pain than White patients. The Opioid Crisis disproportionately hit White America worse because too many doctors think Black patients are drug seeking when we ask for pain relief.

The White breast surgeon wanted my mom to make do with Over The Counter Motrin & Tylenol...

13) AFTER HER MASTECTOMY.

I had to really make some noise to get her real pain meds upon her hospital discharge.

So I'm tired today. Because we march. We protest. And nothing changes.

The Reverend Floyd Flake, former US House of Representatives D-NY preached at my then...

14) DC churches' Graduate Sunday service the year I graduated high school. He said two things that have resonated with me my whole life: 1) "You will fail. Many times. But, you still have to keep trying your best". 2) "Life will be harder because you are Black in a society that..