It’s been another sad week in America’s history. Two more black men were gunned down by police. Keith Lamont Scott was shot in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, leading to more civil unrest, and many people are just plain tired of it. But we can’t become numb. We must refuse to let this be the new normal. Black lives are not expendable.
I don’t understand how Ahmad Khan Rahami (a man who made, planted and exploded bombs in New York and New Jersey over the weekend with the intent to kill and terrorize as many people as possible) can be taken in alive, but not Mr. Crutcher who’s SUV has stalled on the highway. I don’t understand how Dylann Roof, accused of the racially motivated massacre of nine African American parishioners last year at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, was taken in alive and treated to a burger, but not Mr. Scott. So what if Mr. Scott may have had a gun on him. North Carolina is an open carry state. The cops there should know how to take someone with a gun into custody without having to kill them.
Black people are mad, and I don’t blame them. I’m mad too.
See…these are my people to raise, love and protect…

I don’t like having my seven year old tell me that she had another nightmare about Donald Trump sending all the brown and black people away. I don’t like having an internet troll threaten to kill my baby girl. And I don’t want to have to explain to my daughters that their daddy didn’t make it home from work because he had a flat tire and then got shot by a police officer.
I’ve written about race on my blog before. I hoped these stories of injustice would be isolated events, but sadly they are becoming commonplace.
Quotes on Race and Privilege — July 2016
Am I Polarizing? — July 2016
Dear White People — July 2016
7 Ways Whites Can Contribute to #BlackLivesMatter — July 2016
Dear Mayor Smith — July 2016
When Racism Hits Home — March 2016
To the Girl in the Hijab — December 2015
That Time I Was in Slate Magazine — October 2015
I Have a Dream in 2014: rules if stopped by the police — September 2014
Color Blind is a Lie — August 2014