Before reading on, please know I am pro-blue, pro-black and pro-love.

What I am not, is pro-hate. This is not a hate speech. This is not victim blaming or blaming of any kind. I won't condemn anyone for anything. I am not God, so I won't act like I know everything. However, I do know something; that something is this: black lives matter, now and always. But not everybody thinks that way. In fact, out of all the lives in America, out of all the races, black lives mattered least.

America is roughly 240 years old. Slavery is even older. The first 19 African slaves came to America in 1619, and "negro" slavery continued until 1865, two years after the 16th president of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. However, African Americans at the time were still not considered Americans, or even fully human (the Three-Fifths Compromise). They were not legally recognized as citizens until 1868. They were not recognized as humans until 1964. Nearly 100 years later, hundreds have died, either through lynching, racism, or a broken and bias system.

And yet, these Black Americans proudly stand as American. They have fought in every war in America. They have stood with the oppressed and they have supported America on their whipped and broken, scarred backs. They have suffered pain like few could ever truly know and all they are asking is to be seen.

They were seen, for a time. They were seen as they stood in peaceful protest. They were seen when they marched along streets and roadways holding signs of love and a desperate need to be heard. They were seen with Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and all the ones who marched with them. They were seen when the good men stood up with them instead of standing by. They were seen before. See them again.

See them, instead of clutching your purse every time one walks by. See them, instead of crossing the street. See them instead of proclaiming they were at fault. See them as they toddle around holding their favorite toy. See them as they laugh with joy. See them as they cling onto their mothers when they scrape their knees. See them as they catch that winning ball or make that final point. See them as they fall in love. See them as they lose it all with one - just one - bullet. See them when they're backed into a corner, then beaten to the ground. See them when a woman gets out of her car, out of her way, to tell one man he is not worth the dirt he walks on. See them as a misinformed/biased/racist/wrong officer guns a child's father down. See them when a racist man who is not an officer guns or lynches a young boy. See them when they are being targeted for being black. Or Muslim, Hispanic, gay, or someone different. See them, the honest whole, when the few choose wrong. See us and not the media. See us, whenever, wherever and as we are. Not the monsters who hide behind metal barrels, drugs and colors. See beyond the melanin and see who we are as the beautiful humans we are, can be, and will be.

That is the #blacklivesmatter. Please see it. Please see us.