These are my beautiful little bums.
You see me dance with them daily.
You see the joy they bring me, and the light they shine in this world.

These are my beautiful little babes.
You see their little spirits play, love, swim.
You see their ferocity, you see their joy.
You see their mischievousness.
You see their kindness.

I know you see this.
And once a long time ago,
Long before they grew into adulthood,
This is who #georgefloyd was,
A small, child, dancing around maybe, maybe catching butterflies, maybe fishing, maybe watching cartoons.
Once #breonnataylor was a little girl, maybe splashing in the tub like my girls, maybe filled with wonder by caterpillars and salamanders, or passing clouds.

These are my beautiful children,
Filled with curiosity, wonder, possibility.

Not knowing, that their skin colour makes them LESS SAFE in this country.
Not knowing that because their Daddy was born into a #blackbody, they are inherently LESS SAFE.
Not knowing that love is conditional and safety is conditional, and that their skin colour excludes them from the circle of protection that their very own mother enjoys.
Not knowing.
Yet.
And one day they will learn.

Do your babies have to learn anything about “how to behave” so they don’t get shot and killed because the people that are paid to protect and serve, could be the same people that murder and walk free?
Do you have to educate your babies about how they need to be less or different, for fear that someone else’s fear will cause them to use deadly force?
Do your babies have to live in a body that makes them a target, and that their deaths could be simply piled into a heap and never met with justice?
Just another dead body like the countless others.

Enjoy that PRIVILEGE, if this doesn’t apply to you.
Enjoy it, I seriously mean that.

AND….this is a big And.

AND,
Get real fucking angry, that not everyone enjoys that liberty. This is supposed to be “the best country in the world,” and it’s not. It’s simply not.

For you, maybe.
For me and my babies, it won’t ever be, until you all (me included) stand up and demand a change.

I want you to think of every dance video you’ve seen of me and my girls, and remember that joy, and then imagine their little spirits being snuffed from this world in ten, twenty years from now.
The same little girls, shaking their butts, squealing with joy, murdered.
MURDERED.
Because someone made a call to 911 and wielded her white power.

If this moves you. Share it. Make a phone call. Fight. Fight for me. Fight for my girls. Fight for my husband. Fight for George. Fight for every citizen, and every black body that is LESS SAFE living in this country.

Shaking your head and crying isn’t enough anymore. As white people. This is our problem. And it’s our opportunity to stand up and show up for the people in this country that deserve the same rights. It’s not about guilt, it’s about responsibility. Together, we can.