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This is a movement, not a moment. It is our duty as young people to stop the cycle of hate and use our voices to achieve equity and equality in this country. We are not second class citizens. We are sisters, daughters, mothers, brothers, sons, and fathers. We are living, breathing human beings and our lives matter.

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and so did...
Trayvon & Micheal & Eric & Tamir & John & Ezell & Freddie & Alton & Philandro & Ahmad & George & Elijah

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...is how I lost Natasha when we were just little kids. I was there to see the end of her life before any kid should witness death. She should still be here. She had a full life to live. The worst part is...this is not just Natasha's story.

End gun violence.
End gang violence.

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2014 - Brave New Voices (Finals) - "Shots Fired" by Los Angeles Team

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"And then, early on the morning of March 13, 26 years and 282 days after she was born, police entered her home and killed her. She was asleep when the police arrived. She had violated no laws. She was not the target of any investigation. She lay in bed with her boyfriend, then dozed off while watching a movie, until police broke down her door and shot her eight times.

Her name was Breonna Taylor" (Conn, 2020).

#sayhername #justiceforbreonna

Sign the petition:
https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforbre-breonna-taylor-officers-fired/?source=ab_searchads&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8L205sPN6gIVNPC1Ch2yDwTxEAAYASAAEgLZU_D_BwE

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If you saw my previous post a while ago about Emmett Till...

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If you saw my previous post a while ago about Emmett Till...

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The fourteen year old black boy who was brutally murdered by two white men after "offending" a white woman in a store in Mississippi in 1955, this slam poem will make you feel that story and understand that narratives live Till's still exist today.

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2015 - Brave New Voices (Finals) - "Emmett" by Philadelphia Team

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Blackish-- Dre gets pulled over by the police 

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Blackish-- Dre gets pulled over by the police 

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This is a great show and the comedy is amazing. However, I urge you to look beyond the comedy and see every thought that has to pass through a black man's mind every time he is about to come face to face with police officer.

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Addresses racial profiling and discrimination. Thankfully, their story ended with Uncle Phil coming to the rescue and not like Khalil's. Unfortunately, too many stories and end like Khalil and even the one's that don't shouldn't have to end like this.

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Here is the trailer for the Netflix documentary, 13th. I urge you to watch it. It explains how, since its inception, the judicial system was designed against black people in the America. The prison system and the war on drugs make slavery legal. Watch this to learn about systemic racism, recognize it, and speak out against it!

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Blackish-- Dre's take on the Trump's presidency

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Blackish-- Dre's take on the Trump's presidency

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"I love this country even though at times it doesn't love me back"

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Watch this TedTalk by Baratunde Thurston 

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Watch this TedTalk by Baratunde Thurston 

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Think back to the headlines you have seen in the news. Too many of them deal with a white person taking some action (mostly calling the police) on a black person for living their lives. Watch this and see how hard it would be to believe these headlines if the roles of the two human subject were switched. Then, I urge you: Let's take the steps needed to change the action!

Visit his website here: baratunde.com/livingwhileblack

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How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time | Baratunde Thurston

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Is this really Royce Mann or is this you?
"But I feel like I should apologize on behalf of white people everywhere" (p. 375)

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Teen's 'White Boy Privilege' slam poem goes viral

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14-year-old Royce Mann apologized for his "White Boy Privilege" while reading a poem he wrote at a school competition. His poetic performance ends with him urging society to turn the ladder of privilege into a bridge. Be Smarter. Faster. More Colorful and get the full story at http://www.usatoday.com/ *************************************************************************** Want even more?

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The following posts are going to be able music that means so much to me. Click the links to listen to the music videos. 

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The following posts are going to be able music that means so much to me. Click the links to listen to the music videos. 

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- Nice for What by Drake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9BwWKXjVaI
I love this song because he is singing to us women. We do not need to be "nice." We need to be strong. We need to use our voices and be brave enough to stand up for what we believe in. I'm realizing that now than ever before.
-In My Feelings by Drake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRS_PpOrUZ4
This song is a bop! "Starr Starr, do you love me?" Yes, Drake...I do!

-God’s Plan by Drake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpVfcZ0ZcFM
"I don't wanna die for them to miss me
Yes I see the things that they wishin' on me
Hope I got some brothers that outlive me
They gon' tell the story, shit was different with me"
This music video is great! It shows how Drake is using his fame and success to give back to his community. Even though we moved away from Garden Heights, I want to do the same thing. I will never forget to give back to the hood that raised me!

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-Sucker by The Jonas Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnAmeh0-E-U
This song remind me of Chris. Even when I'm mad as hell at him, I'm still a sucker for his goofy beats and dancing.

-Year 3000 by The Jonas Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSry5-qfVFs
Damn, I hope things change by the year 3000.

-Hold on by The Jonas Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHbnoZHcDxw
"When it falls apart
And your feeling lost
All your hope is gone
Don't forget to hold on, hold on"
Let's all hold on together! There is so much life left to live. Let's make it a better life for everyone!

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It was Bernie Mac/Ashton Kutcher awkward when Daddy met Chris. But, I'm so glad I had a talk with Daddy and now he knows that just because I love Chris it does not minimize my love and respect for him. My daddy didn't just set a great example about what it means to be a good black man, he set a great example about what it means to be a good man. Period.

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The Rose That Grew from Concrete by Tupac

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The Rose That Grew from Concrete by Tupac

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Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.

We all have the ability to grow from the rubble, pain, and violence in order to fulfill our dreams and create something beautiful out of our lives and dreams. We can survive and we will survive. We have to help each other grow.

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-Changes by Tupac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXvBjCO19QY
"We gotta make a change
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
And let's change the way we treat each other
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
What we gotta do, to survive"
We need to make changes, so things that happened to Khalil and Natasha do not happen to other innocent people.

-From the Cradle to the Grave by Tupac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub2gw0nIRTo
From when he was born to when he died, Khalil never had it easy. He faced poverty, a single parent household, a parent with an addiction, a grandmother with cancer, and the pressure from the neighborhood drug dealers. His life was not easy.
-Dear Mama by Tupac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb1ZvUDvLDY
-Brenda's Got A Baby by Tupac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRWUs0KtB-I
Even though she did not always deserve it, Khalil loved his mama, Miss Brenda. The circumstance that she grew up in did not give her many chances and opportunities.
-Thugz Mansion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVObfpaR2_I
"I got a spot for us all, so we can ball, at thug's mansion

Ain't no place I'd rather be
Chil'ren, dead homies and family
Sky high, iced out paradise, in the sky
Ain't no place I'd rather be
Only place that's right for me
Chromed out mansion in paradise, in the sky"
I hope that Khalil and Natasha are together in a place where they can feel no hurt, pain, fear, or discrimination. I hope they are looking down on me from someplace nice.

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Where is the Love? by The Black Eyed Peas

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Where is the Love? by The Black Eyed Peas

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WE NEED TO LOVE EACH OTHER.
Like Daddy says, "we just gotta give a damn, a'ight?"

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The Black Eyed Peas - Where Is The Love? (Official Music Video)

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A found poem from Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give by Katerina Koutsandreas

I can’t breathe

On one hand, it’s the cops

on the other hand…

it’s the cops

The truth casts a shadow

I’ve seen it happen over and over again:

Like a horror movie on repeat

A black person gets killed just for being black

Murdered

He’s not the first one to do something like this

And get away with it

Same shit, different century

A system designed against us

Still giving hate

Making us out to be monsters

Like we’re superhumans

There’s Them and then there’s Us

Sometimes

They look like Us

and don’t realize They are Us

This is about Us, with a capital U;

Everybody who looks like us,

Feels like us,

And is experiencing this pain with us

We ride the waves of grief together

People like us

In situations like this

Become hashtags,

But they rarely get justice

A name is important

It defines you

They don’t even say his name

They don’t mention he was unarmed

Instead,

They say he was

A Suspected Drug Dealer

He was just a thug

Investigating or justifying?

Trying to rationalize his death

I didn’t know a dead person

Could be charged with his own

Murder

He didn’t pull the trigger on himself

He was a kid

He was once a walking,

Talking human being

He had dreams

And

He was murdered

By a cop

His assumption killed

You could see

A red river

Flowing down the street

He was more than any bad decision he made

He didn’t deserve to die

But

I’m not giving up on a better ending

My anger is theirs,

and theirs is mine

We can help fix it

We just gotta give a damn

You matter

And

Your voice matters

Our voices are weapons

Use your weapon

Speak

The key is to never stop doing right

We all wait for that one time,

that one time

when it ends right

Maybe this can be it

A love letter in the simplest form:

Let’s join our together and make our voices heard