Black Lives Have Always Mattered

Black Lives Matter is not a new sentiment or creed. Black lives have always mattered. We mattered when the colonizers decided that we were less than human. We were kidnapped from our homeland with no thought to our families, indigenous faiths or languages. We mattered even when they saw us as chattel, like a horse or a donkey, property to be bartered and sold.

We mattered when we toiled from sunrise to sunset on their lands and increased their wealth. We mattered when we birthed their children and then raised those children. We mattered when we built their cities and communities not knowing that one day we would be prevented from living in those communities.

We mattered when we fought in every war from the Revolutionary war to Afghanistan, for our shared ownership of these United States of America. Yes, this is our country too.

Through all of that mattering, we have been systemically policed as if we were the enemy and not a fellow citizen.

Finally, it isn’t just us screaming that we matter. The world is now recognizing the injustice we have suffered for generations. This protest feels different and I am ever hopeful that systemic and dramatic change will happen in the wake of these protest.

My heart goes out to the family of George Floyd and all the other families who have lost someone at the hands of racist police. I am extremely proud of all of the people, of all races, who were brave enough and passionate enough to come out and protest.

#Black Lives Matter