I am not here for Kale apologists and I don’t believe in your ministry. You know the people who just insist that you haven’t found someone to cook it right. Is this leaf a magic kettle that you gotta rub perfect so the genie (and good taste) can pop out? That’s too much work! Do I gotta sing kale a heartfelt love song so it can soften up and be delicious? Why must I bribe kale with property and good music before it getsbehavior? It’s so high maintenance. Is spinach busy? Me and spinach can talk because it’s a bit less involved.

A White Cop, A Black Kid, And A Crime | Jamie The Very Worst Missionary

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t lean on statistics that claim black men are more likely to be under-educated, under-paid, or engaged in criminal activity (in order to prove they probably deserved to be shot), and, then, not conclude that our black baby boys are being born into some kind of serious systemic disadvantage. Black children are born at higher risk of poverty and prison, because they are born black. That, my friends, is racism. That is a crime against humanity.

Via Kelly Wearstler

But here are a few things that I do know. I know what it’s like to walk around in a Kevlar helmet, gas mask, shield, and baton dressed in riot control gear. It’s hot, it’s frustrating, and most of the time you are just standing around waiting. I know that Protests and Riots are not the same thing and just because someone is protesting the police does not make them a “thug”. I know that the criminals that are using this situation to loot and cause havoc should be arrested and prosecuted period. I know that whether you are a rapper, a teacher, a nun, or a congressmen you should have the same rights. I know that if your police department continues to let the community’s questions go unanswered for days while you post armored vehicles and snipers in their neighborhoods you might not get a very positive outcome. I know that if your unofficial departmental policy is to ignore the underlying problems in a community and never address their actual issues don’t be surprised if protests become riots.

“I’ve already decided what our opening shot will be,” says Sarah’s husband and director, Chris. “A nurse wearing a neck bow will pass a handwritten note to another nurse wearing a similar neck bow. She opens the note. In handwritten pink-marker cursive we read: It’s time. Then we transition into a tracking shot, slowly moving left from the nurses’ station and eventually revealing the crowning.” The birth soundtrack will consist entirely of 1960s French pop.

For Weary Friends | Austin Channing Brown

Feel every emotion as it courses through your body. No apologies for feeling feelings. Expect America to do better, churches to do better, people to do better, police to do better, politicians to do better. Your expectations of being treated as fully human is not setting the bar too high. Hope for better, even as you prepare your children for a world that fears them. Hope for better even as you delete the hateful comment at the end of your post. Hope for better as you work. For this is what the ancestors taught us to do.