BLM
Grayson,
I want to tell you that 2020 has improved since we last spoke. I want to tell you our nation is healing. I want to give you assurances that racism and prejudice are issues that you won’t encounter by the time you’re old enough to understand them. A dark history as opposed to a dejected future. I want to tell you that I’m okay, that forgiveness comes easy. Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we want.
A mere two weeks after I wrote to you detailing the tragedies of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, yet another person that we share a pigment with was murdered in the street. A black man named George Floyd was slain by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department, treated much more like a rabid dog than a human being. Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes 46 seconds with his hands nonchalantly in his pockets. As if the knee wasn’t enough, two other officers, sworn to protect and serve, pinned the rest of his body to the ground. A fourth officer stood watch for his comrades while they committed this atrocity, never once heeding to the pleas of eyewitnesses to check for a pulse. George Floyd expressed I can’t breathe while onlookers watched him breath his last breathe. The murder was recorded in broad daylight by a bystander with a smartphone, forever documenting in its rawest form how some people feel about the value of black life. Always less than.
I’m angry! I’m downhearted and stressed. On the other hand, I’m numb and desensitized because of all the hashtags I’ve seen over the years. I’m concerned for you and your sister’s future and the future of black boys and girls all over America and around the world. And all this angst is the result of someone else’s discomfort with your potential, a stranger’s disdain with your heritage of Kings. Because the color of your skin, some will always perceive you to be a threat. Others will feel you’re inferior, unworthy of the right to breathe. Because the color of your skin, people you have never met will take one look at you and decide you’re up to no good. You’ll be watched and followed, monitored because “you don’t belong”. Because the color of your skin, some will suspect you of doing things you didn’t do, while others may intentionally attempt to falsely incriminate you. Some people will talk down to you, call you out of your name all because the color of your skin.
I know these experiences all too well. I have been met with genuine surprise because of my intelligence and academic success as a black man, even accused of cheating. I have been frisked without probable cause. I have had multiple vehicles of mine unlawfully searched. I’ve been told I fit a description. I’ve been profiled as a drug dealer. I’ve been placed in handcuffs while being neither arrested or detained, just a “temporary precaution”. I’ve been called a nigger. I’ve even been removed from my car at gunpoint. So when you read of the black experience in America, know it's not an isolated incident. Black people who have endured such encounters are the many, not the few. These experiences can be corroborated by black people worldwide, so don’t let someone try to explain away injustice as a figment of the imagination.
I speak plainly about these experiences because I want no room for misinterpretation. These stories are not embellishments, they are actual details from my life. These are stories of obstacles overcome. In each instance, I was eventually delivered to safety. They are proof that there is a protective covering over me. That covering covers you as well. I don’t tell you these things to scare you. On the contrary, this is meant to empower you. You don’t have to go through these experiences to understand that they should never happen. We can be strengthened by pain and injustice. I don’t allow these experiences to define me, but they do fuel me. Allow them to drive you to action. Create lasting change and inspire others to do the same. These are cautionary tales meant to prepare you for a world that isn’t always just. However, you are called to be just in this world.
Know that I am working to make the world a better place for you. Love who you are including your blackness. Embrace it. Take heart from the trials of black people who came before you that led to barriers being shattered. So many mountains climbed and many more peaks to be conquered, but perseverance is power. You are loving and loved, intelligent, and strong. You are a man of action. You are a King!! Never let anyone tell you otherwise and act accordingly.
God loves you and so do I,
Daddy
