I’m tired of the loop, america.

I am proud to be black. And also…america makes it exhausting.

“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” — Fannie Lou Hamer

I am proud to be black. And also…being black is exhausting.

For every “for the culture” moment that lifts our spirits to the sky, there are at least ten other tragic moments that come along and clip our wings. It feels as though America has made a sport of watching us plummet from heaven to earth. We sprout wings to survive, only to fall victim to the cycle of this tragic bloodsport.

Black people have earned, through protest and sacrifice, the right to be considered more than property in this country, and yet, the right to be considered human beings still seems to evade us.

It makes no sense that black men and women die at the hands of police officers every day, just for doing basic, mundane things. Especially when this country heralds its commitment to “innocent until proven guilty” ( and Fourteenth Amendments) as a facet of American exceptionalism. Black men and women are murdered by the people sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution on a presumption of guilt while or in the neighborhood, playing in the park, in their homes, in their homes, or around the neighborhood. And we’ve seen countless stories of white Americans…