A Letter To My Nephew

Dear J I’m sorry this is the world you live in, walking the streets judged by both sides. I know you’re called a milky way- not fitting in to the black or white divide. But if you could choose who to align with I think you’d be confused. There are innocent black men labelled as murderers, attacked by law abiding officers. I won’t give you the names of the deceased from my era, my head pounds when I recall the list. We used to have a term called institutional racism, back then it still exists, There were many who tried to erase the problem it was always short lived. Still today mothers cry-remembering their babies buried in the soil prematurely. I will tell you to google “Black Lives Matter,” Oh J I the uproar when the protests started in 2021. Suddenly people asked didn’t their lives matter too. It wasn’t about that, don’t let anyone tell you different. The movement wanted to show how the world hadn’t achieved Martin Luther King Jr’s united dream. I remember suddenly we started talking about racism again, I had hoped we could have stopped the rage. But how could we when we hadn’t erased the problematic pain. Some people didn’t understand, it was weeded in institutions It had grown from decades of not understanding all flowers bloom differently. I had hoped now you’re a man, things would have changed but still I see the hate in some people’s eyes.