Sometimes You Just Have To Vent…

With the current political climate and unrest in America, and with the most recent abominable, heinous crime that was committed against brother Amaud Arbery, I have had to really go to my place of meditation and reflect for a few minutes.  Being a black man today is… tiring… and worrying… to say the least.  It is tiring because we have to wear so many masks…  in addition to the ones that we have to wear during this COVID-19 pandemic.  Never in my life would I have ever thought I would live through a PANDEMIC!  These masks that I am talking about… the having to always remain calm and never be heightened, thinking about your words very carefully before they are spoken, it makes it a little hard to breathe sometimes.  What happened to Amaud Arbery could have happened to me!  Again, I say that it is tiring.  I, as a black man, am tired.  We as a black people are tired because:

We can’t go jogging (#AmaudArbery)

We can’t relax in the comfort of our own homes (#BothamJean and (#AtatianaJefferson)

We can’t ask for help after being in a car crash (#JonathanFerrell) and (#RenishaMcBride)

We can’t have a cellphone (#StephonClark)

We can’t play loud music (#JordanDavis)

We can’t cell CD’s (#AltonSterling)

We can’t sleep (#AiyanaJones)

We can’t walk from the corner store (#MikeBrown)

We can’t play cops and robbers (#TamirRice)

We can’t go to church (#Charleston9)

We can’t walk home with Skittles (#TrayvonMartin)

We can’t hold a hair brush while leaving our own bachelor party (#SeanBell)

We can’t party on New Years (#OscarGrant)

We can’t get a normal traffic ticket or drive (#SandraBland)

We can’t lawfully carry a weapon (#PhilandoCastile)

We can’t break down on a public road with car problems (#CoreyJones)

We can’t shop at Walmart (#JohnCrawford)

We can’t have a disabled vehicle (#TerrenceCrutcher)

We can’t read a book in our own car (#KeithScott)

We can’t be a 10 year old walking with our grandfather (#CliffordGlover)

We can’t decorate for a party (#ClaudeReese)

We can’t ask a cop a question (#RandyEvans)

We can’t cash our checks in peace (#YvonneSmallwood)

We can’t take out our wallet (#AmadouDiallo)

We can’t run (#WalterScott)

We can’t breathe (#EricGarner)

We can’t live (#FreddieGray)

Yeah, I am sick and tired of being judged simply because of the color of my skin… and not by the content of my character.  My heart cries out for peace and justice.

I am tired of making hashtags.

We are tired of trying to convince everyone else that our #blacklivesmatter too!

We are tired of the senseless black deaths.

We are tired… so very tired…

Signed:

An Unapologetic Black Man.