The Next Day

We are at war. Always have been, and maybe we always will be. One could say that is our inheritance in this country. The life of a Black or Brown individual at conflict with the country that refuses to fully be called “home”. We use words, voices, our rights, and they have bullets housed in tools of incredible destruction, cans of poison poised to be thrown into a crowd, and the deafening sound of inaction during an opportunity for change. Even in this morbid dance, a bullet is sent ripping through the body of one of our own, and a wall is given more justice.

Throughout this summer we have picked up new allies along the way and have opened the door to a greater conversation on changing the system in a revolutionary way. If we have let it, this season has transformed many of in a way that makes it nigh impossible to revert back. Many of us have had our first taste in protesting, creating illuminating art, and using our intellect and words to dare attempt to harness a world of freedom and equity that seems impossible. But here is the question that I want you to think about. What’s next?

Yes, of course, “Black lives matter” you say and that statement has journeyed from your mouth in conversations with your alternative thinking relatives and has nestled comfortably in your posts across social media. You have done your duty and you have done it well. Now you’re in it, and what rests before you is a personal career in either allyship or deeply engaging with the Black and Brown condition. Now the burden is on you, to make decisions that are for the best benefit of all people and to lift up the most vulnerable. But what’s next?

In a few weeks, a journey to the polls may be in your future (I hope) and after you have registered you will be primed to make a choice. And before you fill in that sacred circle next to the candidate of your choosing, I want you to think back at all the time you spend arguing with your slightly problematic uncle. Meditate on the old college friends on Facebook that you were a fan of until you say them share an article only about rioting and looting. I want you to consider which viable candidate, Democratic or Republican has a thought-out plan for Black and Brown America. Think about that knot in your stomach you felt when you saw a Black man’s kneck be crushed while he cried for his blessed mother. Consider all of these things, and then vote.