Your life mattered, your existence will forever be remembered by all those that you left behind. No matter what they say, you were not a criminal, not a stereotype, not the caricature that they created and replayed on TV screens to justify what they did to you. You were beauty, intelligence, light, and love. You were Father, Uncle, Brother, Nephew, Cousin, Grandson, and Son. You were Mother, Aunt, Sister, Niece, Cousin, Granddaughter, and Daughter. You were not a threat, you were not a monster, you were not a problem that needed to be eliminated. The pain of your loss was felt around the country and in some cases, around the world. People who never touched you nor beheld your smile, shed tears for you, another light extinguished far too soon. Mothers and Fathers hold their children tighter, praying that they will make it to old age because praying that they make it adulthood is no longer enough. Images of Adam Toledo, Daunte Wright, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Natasha McKenna, and Sandra Bland on repeat in our nightmares. So many names that it would take much longer than a moment of silence to say them all. Our hearts have been broken too many times, we have run out of tears, and we cannot wait any longer. Hurt turns to anger, rioting the language of the unheard. We shout, and March, and share our outrage with the world. Your life mattered! Our lives matter! We will vote, we will protest, we will scream it from the mountain tops until they listen, until they feel our pain, until they understand that we can no longer be silent. Your life mattered and it is the motivation that we need to keep fighting so that true change can come.
With Love,
The Voice of the Unheard
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