Everywhere I go, all my life, all across this country, people smile and welcome me. They never seem to realize I’m a criminal.

I break the speed limit to smithereens nearly every time I drive. I trespassed through the park last month when it was closed for quarantine. I’m deeply ashamed to say, I shoplifted when I was a teen.

But I walked 2.23 miles through my suburban community today, and all my white neighbors waved, nodded, asked me howyadoin. It’s not that they recognize me. This isn’t my usual time for a walk, we literally haven’t crossed paths before. It’s just obvious: I belong here.

Don’t tell me reasons why it was different for #AhmaudArbery. The truth is, if you look at his handsome face and see a criminal, you should see one when you look at me, too.

Ahmaud was a real person, and he is dead. He’s not just a hashtag. But at the same time, this is about so much more than a single horrifying crime crying out for justice. Implicit bias is real and deadly, and it’s in me and probably in you too. Systems that perpetuate and defend built-in white supremacy are real and deadly, and they won’t change unless you and I and all of us speak and work and vote for change.

Alas, I’ve said much of this before, with a different hashtag: #PhilandoCastile. And even this week, I learned that we now need to #SayHerName for #BreonnaTaylor. Too many. Too many. Far too many.

Posts like this are the least I can do. Every day, trying to find ways to see and speak more clearly, be braver, make more change inside and out. 

 #iwalkwithmaud #blacklivesmatter