Dear Black Man,
Let me thank you.
Thank you for having names that allow our tongues to travel from the roof of our mouths back to our own roots.
You see, I remember asking my mother why I couldn’t find a black doll and her response was “You’re too young to know the truth.”
Because, It’s hurtful to know that the obligation of representation has been denied through generations from the moment they put barriers between you and progression.
I know we might not be from the same states but mental oppression has the same weight. I was once asked if I ever used a computer before just because I’m an immigrant and my accent gave it away.
Then They said , “you like spicy food, eh?”
As if all Latinos were the same.
And I know you’ve heard the same idea, different way. I know you’ve struggled to come up from the bottom of categories and definitions. From the media propaganda and false transmissions.
Because the old “Don’t shoot!”
Become the new “camera roll!”
And “serve and protect” are not longer the officers’ job. So, I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that they have been so focused on the color of your skin to see the light that shines within so, they obscured you.
I’m sorry that you have to pay social taxes on top of government taxes because, for you, success has a higher price.
A higher effort, a higher mind, a higher building where to jump or a higher tree where to hang…
You always got back up, because the branches of justice were not sturdy enough to hold your oppression.
Because the walls weren’t tall enough to keep my people behind their future camouflaged by false laws of racist immigration. So, I’m sorry.
I’m sorry that a retweeted hashtag has much impact that the way a mother arches her back when holding her baby boy shot not once, twice, thrice but four, five six seven times.
I’m sorry that the dreams of a man or the acts of a woman live only behind school books or inside a black birds’ cages.
RIP stands for Rest in the Past, Tony. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and every other author who helped write our momentum.
And if true that “black don’t crack” then don’t let them break you.
So, from the bottom of my heart, Let me thank you.
Dedicated to my brother and his #blackboymagic

