we cannot breathe. black lives matter. it is worth being said over and over again, until hopefully there is a day when it does not need to be expressed again. our hearts are full of fear, anger, sadness, despair, and we are trying to hold onto hope.  the police brutality that is happening is heart-wrenching, devastating, and impossible to ignore, if you are a human being. what is sad is that it is not new, and that it is an every day life truth for people of color. 

for us, this is very personal and an integral part of our life. being a parent to jaylan, our 8 year old beautiful and color-ful boy, this fills us with immense dread, anger and anxiety. we wish for something different for him.  being able to run down the street, play cops and robbers, drive a car, walk on the street, eat at a restaurant, be angry or shout out in joy: these are things we should all be able to do without the threat of being shot, arrested, or killed.

no matter what color our skin is we all have the same desires: fall in love, take care of ourselves and our dear ones, laugh, find meaning in our lives, feel safe, learn, make mistakes, feel, live, breathe and die. and the reality is that so many of us in this country and in the world live a totally different reality, without those basic freedoms. 

our hopes and prayers are that this will change and that we can see a different future for all our children. a future where it does matter what color your skin is, but where each is treated with equality and justice. a future with more freedoms, where we all matter. 

thank you javan johnson for your artistry in expressing so potently and powerfully a conversation we dread and must have with jaylan.