We’ve endured a decade of watching Black people die.
Experts explain the importance of hope in these times and why feelings of “hesitant hope” may arise.
Then we lostEric GarnerandMichael Brownto police brutality in the summer of 2014.
Weve endured adecade of watching Black people die; and each subsequent death has become less surprising.
The Black Lives Matter movementwas founded in responseto Martins case.
Today isJuneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved African Americans in the confederacy.
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Its undeniable that so much has changed since that day.
Its easier to protect your heart when your expectations are low.
We want to have hope that this will actually result in change.
That people can no longer deny that this is a systemic problem.
That this is not about bad apples, says Dr. Jordan-Zachery.
These deathsthese murderstake something from those of us who are aware and are longing for Black freedom and liberation.
We also die every time this happens.
But were longing to live.
Were all longing to live this notion of freedom.
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And each time this happens a little bit of that longing gets eroded.
Each time this happens its harder and harder to build hope.
These deathsthese murderstake something from those of us who are aware and are longing for Black freedom and liberation.
We also die every time this happens.
Its bizarre to watch educated adults discuss concepts likesystemic racismandwhite privilegelike theyre new and radical.
Regardless, its clear that their voices are being heard and that change is happening.
Ella Joneswas elected the first Black mayor of Ferguson, Missouri.
New Yorkrepealed section 50-a, which allowed police to shield misconduct records.
The U.S. Soccer board of directorsrepealed a policy thatbanned kneeling during the national anthem.
Racism is not new.
Newly available televisions allowed people all over the world tosee police officers brutalizing Civil Rights protestors.
Photography allowedJetmagazine to publish images of Emmett Tills beaten and disfigured body afterhis mother insisted on an open-casket funeral.
Print allowedIda B. Wellsto chronicle white mob violence and lynchings in pamphlets and in several columns in local newspapers.
What is The Missionary Sex Position?
Theimmediate response is anger and rebellion.
So were having to replenish on our own.
Which is why people engage in rebellions of different forms.
The second, and third, and fourth responses must be policy change.
Shes referring to policies that continued the war on drugs thatPresident Nixon began in the 1970s.
I dont mean to be a pessimist, and I know that hope is important in times like these.
But its hard to shed the armor built by centuries of disappointment.
Having these emotional and cognitive abilities are necessary for us to change our behaviors.
A lack of hope has made me feel paralyzed.
Ive considered what the point of all of this is if nothing will ever really change.
But I cant lose hope.
I cant make a run at seek comfort in a reality thats designed to keep me perpetually uncomfortable.
But I also cant shed that hesitancy.
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