#jordanneely

I was going to share an uplifting and motivating post today to start the week, but I’m answering questions from my 8-year-old son about the murder of Jordan Neely.

My son loves NYC, its trains and the subway. He always has. He loves to ride trains. He’s fascinated by their speed and how they work, and he wants to invent the fastest train in the world one day.

So you can imagine his horror when he saw the video of Jordan Neely murdered by a white passenger on the train.

We didn’t show the video to him.

He saw it when he was watching the Warriors/Lakers game.

And now we are answering his questions about it.

He told me he feels sad, and that he feels bad.

He says he doesn’t want that to be him or his dad one day on the train.

He says he gets upset that white people kill black people.

He has questions and he’s scared.

Again. (The fear never went away though).

Please know that anti-racism starts at home with your kids.

It’s about how YOU talk about others, how YOU act, and how YOU behave.

It’s about what YOU say and what YOU do.

This means stop talking in any way that blames Black people for being murdered asking “well, what did they do?”

You know they didn’t “do” anything. They were Black. That’s the crime in this country.

Get the blinders off your eyes.

Stop saying you’re color blind because that’s insulting and not true.

To everyone raising their collective consciousness and showing and LIVING up anti-racists. ✊🏽

Please stop talking about it and BE IT.

#jordanneely #antiracism #justice #parenting #racialequity