We are living in the time. It is a time that will be looked back upon by our grandchildren and great-grandchildren and they will say my grandma, or nana, or abuela, or bubby was there. They saw that, they were a part of that. They were there. We are here, living in a tumultuous time. Because it is my first time truly experiencing this type of unrest and activism i cannot say I’ve been heart warmed and heart-broken by some people who are in the public eye.

It can be hard to maneuver in such times. Do you go into the streets and protest? Do you organize to create change? Are you the person who plays a supportive role? Do you watch but stay silent? It’s one thing to read about times such as these and say “I would have done…” “If that were me I would…” Its quite another to actually be in these times. Watching people of color continue to be mistreated, abused, killed. To witness a racist and bigot openly promote hate speech while running for the top office in the country you live in. It is surreal. Because this is happening. We are living in these times.

Those who I once held in high regard saying things that reflect how disconnected they are from my life and the lives of others. It’s disappointing, but then i must consider I don’t actually know these people or their politics. Their ability to excel in sports, music, and/or entertainment doesn’t align their ability to relate to the struggle even though we are similar in ethnicity. They may actually be deficient in matters such as this, but when questioned on the degree to which Black Lives Matter they respond with fallacies about crime and behavior. Racism? They don’t know anything about it. Matter of fact, they don’t think it’s still going on. They tell me to stand up, don’t be disrespectful, I should be so lucky to be, to do, to…All while the streets continue to run red with the blood of black folks.

And in that same breath there are all the people who are standing, or sitting, and fighting. Those you never would have thought would be the ones. The ones who sacrifice their reputations, risk losing their jobs, affiliations, because they can’t or won’t “fall in line”.

What about the everyday people who have to wear the mask. In school, at work. Not acknowledging how they’re not worried about terrorists blowing up their spot, they’re  worried about their 12-year-old son who is larger than most boys his age doesn’t get killed on “accident” because someone was scared of him. He is real big you know.  They can’t talk about that with their coworkers because they are all white and they literally may have never heard the name Tyre King or Terence Crutcher. That is what their privilege affords them, but don’t you dare say they are privileged. They are losing their country!

And what do we say to the kids? How can we try to allow them to keep their naivety while arming them with the behavior to save their lives? How do we alert them to what is happening everyday but not allow the trauma that comes with being black dampen their spirit?

We are living in the time. This is the time. And i don’t know what is going to happen. How bad will it get? i just don’t know. Is this the revolution?

You will not be able to stay home.

The revolution may not being televised, but it is being reported by us.

There are pictures of pigs shooting brothers on the instant replay, Facebook lived, tweeted.

But the revolution is definitely live.

Snuka