I remember being a kid

I remember being taught to “see no color”

That we were all the same, that there was no black and white

But then I learned

That to see no color meant I was erasing real struggles, real history, real people

That I wasn’t even seeing the people right in front of me

People with their own feelings, and their own hopes and dreams, and their own heartaches, and their own stories

So now I see color. Now I respect color

I used to hear the term, “white privilege”, and I was confused

What did that even mean?

Was I supposed to be sorry for being white?

Was my life supposed to be “easy”?

But then I learned

It didn’t mean that my life couldn’t be hard, or that there was something wrong with being white

It meant that I was afforded certain privileges simply because of the color of my skin

It meant that my skin color didn’t make my life more difficult

It meant that I didn’t have to worry about: jogging, or bird watching, or walking to the store for Skittles, or getting pulled over for a routine traffic stop, or sitting in my own home.

Or for existing while being Black

I used to hear the phrase Black Lives Matter, and thought, of course they do. All Lives Matter

But then I learned

Saying Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean that other lives don’t matter, too

It means that right now our Black brothers and sisters are hurting

It means that right now our Black brothers and sisters need our attention

It means that right now our Black brothers and sisters need our help

Saying Black Lives Matter means that right now we are focused on THEM, on their safety, on their fears, on their lives

Saying Black Lives Matter means that their lives matter, too

Saying All Lives Matter detracts from the very real work that needs to be done. It erases the very real need for our attention, our love, our outrage at a broken, and a systemically racist system that has told us for decades that Black lives do NOT matter

I have made mistakes, and God knows I’ll continue to make them. But I know this: Staying silent isn’t the answer, being afraid to try isn’t the answer. We need listening. So much more listening

More love

More compassion

More empathy

Black Lives Matter