Today is yet another day of mourning.

Today is another tragedy. In the city where I live, another young black man has lost his life at the hands of those whose jobs are designed to protect him. I don’t know all of the details, so I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I can tell you with what has been shared already - my heart hurts. It aches with the pain of helplessness. The situation with the hate crimes on Asian-Americans, the soldier who was stopped at a gas station, Daunte Wright in Minneapolis, George Floyd (whose trial is happening this week), and countless others are precisely the reason why I feel the need to educate my children on the dangers of their skin color - that have nothing to do with their actions in life - simply the fear that it instills in others.

Today, I’ve taken down the “Worth it minute” that I had planned this week. The lives of men and women of color are “Worth it,” and that message is more important than anything else I had planned to say. 

Let me also take this moment to reinforce and clarify that “all lives DO matter” regardless of skin color. Why “Black Lives Matter” is essential to call out is because the rate of death of unarmed black men (i.e., the death % relative to skin color) at the hands of those whose job it is to protect them is higher than the percentage of all other colors in the United States. It doesn’t mean that one skin color is less important than others. It just means that evidence suggests that black lives matter less in situations with law enforcement and the judicial system. That is the reason it’s important to reinforce that “Black Lives Matter” too.

I pray for those living in the pain of losing a loved one unnecessarily.

I pray for those who have fear in their hearts of humans who look differently than they do.

I pray for those whose jobs put them in situations that involve, or may involve violence. There are so many police officers doing it correctly - they need our support. There are so many officers living in fear - they need our prayers - in the hope that it will save even one more life. 

I pray that I use my platform of helping others - not only in career education, but also in the education of life. 

Today is yet another day of mourning.