I’m heartbroken. I normally try to focus more on the good that’s happening in the world instead of the bad, but given the recent events with George Floyd’s murder, it’s hard to look the other way and stay silent about the situation. I don’t want to be silent anymore. I’m not scared to be silent anymore. This needs to stop.

I can’t help but get emotional thinking about this situation. I’m not black, but I am a person of color. I’m hispanic, and I’ve dealt with racism before, but even still, I don’t know what it’s like to be a black man/woman in America. I don’t know what it’s like to fear for my life and my safety when encountering law enforcement. I don’t know what it’s like to hope to god that I don’t come across a situation where I could get the cops called on me because someone felt threatened by me because of the color of my skin. I don’t know what it’s like to live in constant fear for my children’s lives and my family member’s live’s. I don’t know what it’s like to be George Floyd’s family right now, having to watch his murder, hearing his desperate cries and pleas for help to no avail while he suffocates to death. I don’t know what it’s like to have to deal with people who choose to deflect the fact that my beloved family member was suffocated and murdered because of the color of their skin. The people who are so quick to say “all lives matter”, “blue lives matter”, “not all cops are bad!”, “where was the outrage when (enter white person’s name) was murdered by a cop?”). The truth is that all lives SHOULD matter but, unfortunately, that’s not the reality of the world that we live in today.

There’s so much ugliness in the world right now, it’s unbearable and heartbreaking to watch. There’s so much ignorance. I pray for the world that we live in today. I pray that we can all come together, as one, in order to fight and break this vicious cycle of racism.

“No one is born hating another person for the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than it’s opposite.”-Nelson Mandela