Stay Safe

When COVID-19 quarantine started, people, strangers even, started saying something to me when I was out, "Stay safe." Stay safe. I know they really mean, "Stay healthy," right? As a mother, I have had some "stay safe" moments: the first time your child drives away solo with a new license, when your adult baby takes off to another country, when...well you know, something new or challenging.

I guess I'm always thinking about my children and praying for their safety, but I don't worry each time they leave our/their house that forgetting to signal a turn or going for a jog could result in their death. I don't worry that they'll be shot sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal. or while sleeping in their own damn bed I don't think every day, they could go out into that world and not come back all because of the color of their skin. I don't worry that they'll be falsely accused, detained, because of what they look like. We have that privilege.

Black Lives Matter - and before you say "All lives matter". Stop. Listen. I have challenges and heart stopping moments, too. I can talk and write about them another time. But we need to sit still and just absorb the message without answering back, hearing the pain, listening. It doesn't mean you condone violence or that you don't also have pain and need to be heard, but as long as you are talking, you aren't listening.

I am not going to white-splain what is going on - listen to the black voices. It isn't comfortable to hear the America they experience, but it is real. We don't need to "Make America Great Again". We need to make America Just. Listen, be still, and understand. Understand that Stay Safe carries more significance for our black and brown family, friends, and neighbors.