July 7, 2016

When #BlackLivesMatter and days like today are really difficult

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Days like today are really difficult.

It’s difficult to wake up to the news that yet another black man was unjustly killed by the very people that are supposed to be protecting us. It’s difficult to realize that the same thing happened not 24 hours ago. It’s difficult to log-on to social media to the outrage and the anger and the tears, and not know which one to feel myself first.

Because it’s all of these feelings and more that creep up almost instantly. Disappointment, disgust, fear, outrage… But most of all I feel hopelessness.

I feel hopeless for the families that are now hugging their loved ones and trying to explain to their children how or why this could have happened in the Land of the Free. I feel hopeless that even after so many of us shout that #BlackLivesMatter, this keeps happening. But most of all I feel hopeless to do anything, because no matter how many friends and acquaintances and people I’ve never met speak up about this on Facebook and Twitter, this keeps happening.

Waking up on a Sunday a few weeks ago to find out what happened in Orlando wasn’t any easier. To hear about the murder of 49 other people, many whom are part of my Latino & LGBT communities, was more difficult than I could have imagined.

But this keeps HAPPENING.

And it’s left me utterly and completely speechless. It’s difficult today to log in to work and write about food (a job that I actually love and usually keeps me pretty sane on days like today). It’s difficult to do anything but breathe and cry, to be honest. And it’s difficult to think about anything but this tragedy, over and over again.

And so, I leave you with this: The all-star tribute of “What’s Going On?”, a remake of the Marvin Gaye classic that was released in October 2001 to benefit the AIDS crisis and talk about, well, WHAT is going on. Those words, and this video, weigh heavily on my mind again today – and I find myself rewatching it every few minutes.

Below, a list of resources and articles that people much smarter than me have written in response to this senseless tragedy.