"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

- Desmond Tutu

Like everyone who watched, I went through a spectrum of emotions these past two days from the horrific videos of the police killing Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. We are not desensitized and we are not hopeless from the recent hate crime / mass killing in Orlando; nor the past week's terrorist attacks in Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq and Saudi Arabia; nor the non-convictions in the cases of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bell and Freddie Gray; nor any of the evils committed by one human against another. 

There are infinite layers to this problem. As an individual, you are not alone, I am not alone; together, we become a chorus.

Turn grief, anger and despair into positive action:

🕯mic.com has an article "15 things your city can do right now to end police brutality"

🕯Sign petitions: moveon.org has one now demanding justice for Alton Sterling's killing

🕯Write to your local representatives (google it by putting in your local area) and email them (city council member, mayor, district attorney, etc.) asking for police education and reform...

🕯joincampaignzero.org is chock full of information and solutions 

🕯Teach your children not to be color blind. We are not the same. We are beautifully different: yellow, black, brown, white, . . . Most importantly we are all EQUAL as human beings: celebrate and embrace difference.

🕯Speak your voice. Be heard: as a group through protests or as an individual by discussing with people who may be feeling helpless or may not understand the issues. You are not alone. You CAN make a difference.

🕯Some links to organizations for donation and education:

Black Lives Matter

NAACP

ACLU

Southern Poverty Law Center

I believe education is paramount for making change. Education in all directions: young and old, liberal and conservative, in the system, out of the system, in America, in every country on this planet, . . .  I am trying to practice positive change. But like you, I am outraged and wondering, "How many times before change happens?! How many decades of oppression before this ends?!" It has never stopped. Institutionalize racism must end. 

Above is excerpted from my Instagram post earlier today because I felt that I should share easy clickable links.

(photo of Cipriana Quann, TK Quann and Francesca Ramsey from the interwebs)