I’m exhausted from having to defend my right to exist and convincing people that my life matters. I’m exhausted from the anxiety from knowing the prison and police industrial complexes are looking for every opportunity to swallow me whole. I’m exhausted from seeing black and brown bodies- my body- slaughtered in dedication to new slave masters. I’m exhausted from the barrage of reminders that I could be murdered at any moment just like Ahmaud, just like Breonna, just like Tony, just like George. I’m exhausted from non-black complacency. I’m exhausted from seeing non-intersectional activism. I’m exhausted from seeing messages of justice co-opted to justify the oppression of the marginalized.
Forgive your black siblings right now if they are exhausted too. We were born into a country that profits off of our lives and our deaths and that burden is heavier than you can understand. But where we need you is in the streets. We need you in donations. We need you holding yourself and your loved ones accountable. We need you to educate those who don’t have the access to educate themselves. We need you where it is dangerous for us to go. We need you to support us, tell us we matter, and that you won’t stop fighting for justice and equity until black and brown bodies aren’t second class citizens. We can’t go back to normal after this. We can’t afford to. We can’t afford to sink back into the convenience of normalization and destigmatization. We can’t afford to erase the memory of everyone we’ve lost.
We can’t afford to stay disorganized either. Regardless of your resources and ability, there is a surplus of ways to fight. Check-in on the mental health of black and brown folx. Share resources on how non-black people can improve themselves and where they can use their privileges for the advancement of the marginalized. Talk protest strategies and build teams and protocol when things get messy in the streets. Be unapologetic in fighting for a better world. This isn’t solved with cushy “peace and love” and we’ve been out of patience since forever. This is solved with shared resources, education, compassion, solidarity, resilience, and sacrificing unearned privileges.
So please keep fighting. The road is long ahead of us but we only move forward as a unit. Fight for me. Fight for us. Fight for black and brown voices. Fight for intersectionality. Fight for Ahmuad. Fight for Breonna. Fight for Tony. Fight for George. Fight to know justice. Cameron Lavi-Jones -King Youngblood