"We who BELIEVE in freedom CANNOT rest." - Ella Baker

Like you, I have spent the better part of the past week angry, upset, filled with rage, heartbroken, and utterly pissed off. As a Black woman in America, I AM TIRED. I am tired of seeing my Black brothers and sisters murdered in the streets, in their homes, in parks, in stores, for being Black essentially. The very color of our skin has been weaponized. We're shown way too often that our feelings don't matter, our emotions don't matter, our breath doesn't matter, our very lives do not matter. We have been fighting in this country for 400 years to be seen and treated as full human beings deserving of life, liberty, economic freedom, equality, and justice. Yet, we have been systematically denied. We're given an inch then a foot is taken away.

With the MURDER of George Floyd this past week by the Minnesota police officers, we have seen an unprecedented amount of protest in the streets akin to an uprising. People are speaking out of the deeply passionate anger they feel about being tossed aside as lives that are easily sacrificed. The message is presented well - we're tired but angry and we're not taking this outright exercise of police brutality on our communities any longer. We're over it all. America has a deep history of racism. It was literally built on racism. It's done it's very best to hold true to its racism by institutionalizing it in its system to continue to step on Black people (and other people of color). We can't be a better America if we continue to live like this.

The United States of America is diverse, beautifully diverse. However, we have yet to allow every group in this society to thrive and participate in it equally. We spent the 1800s trying to dismantle the institution of slavery. We spent the better part of the 1900s trying to dismantle segregation and Jim Crow. We spent the better part of the 1990s and 2000s trying to dismantle mass incarceration and police brutality. We've been fighting to be seen as equal people in this society for far too long. America OWES it to Black Americans to finally see us as humans, treat us equally, protect our lives as it protects its own, and ensure us our freedoms and opportunities to succeed as it does others.

Protest (and rioting) is our way of reminding America that it has yet to uphold its part of the deal. Getting in the streets is how we voice our anger and frustration as well as to get the attention of those in power to push for change. As a Black woman who owns a business and supports small businesses, it can be uncomfortable seeing those businesses burn across America. However, those businesses are worth far less than a human life. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade and so many others deserved to live. Businesses can be rebuilt. Many have started Gofundme fundraisers and have had overwhelming support in that. Lives can't come back though. We need to focus on getting justice for those whose lives were snuffed out in violence at the hands of police and vigilantes who have deputized themselves as purveyors of 'justice.

It's time for a change. It's time that we all work together to make that change happen. We need true oversight for police brutality. We need laws that deputize citizens to murder with impunity changed. We need more resources poured into our communities. We need a real strategy created and rolled out across the nation to provide full equality across the board to Black Americans and other disenfranchised groups. We need to completely dismantle racism.

It's been great watching the diverse group of people protesting in the streets. Our allies of all races have stood with us and are engaged in this fight. I'm thankful and grateful to all of you have chosen to be by our side recognizing that none of us are free until we're all free (as it's been stated by Dr. King and others).  Let's all do the work together - across races - for change. Together we are even more powerful.  A group collectively engaged for change is one that can enact change.