I'm white.

I will not pretend to know your pain.

I will not pretend I go through your pain.

I will not pretend I feel your terror when you see red and blue lights.

I will not pretend to know how you feel when someone flies a confederate flag and has a Trump sign in their yard.

I will not pretend to know how you feel when people who look like you are murdered because they look like you.

I will not pretend I know what it is like to be black.

Emmett Till, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Rodney King, and countless others have been murdered because the color of their skin is dark. Some people don't believe this is true-that these people wronged the law to the point that justifies murder, but that's bullshit and wrong. White people, imagine your kid shot down because they looked "threatening". Right. Now you're mad.

I have heard it. I have heard members of my family say unspeakable things about you. I grew up hearing lies and slander about you. I grew up in a family where I would listen to a black artist on the radio and am told to turn it simply because they don't want to hear a black person. I was taught to be afraid of you. I was told that you were not as good as me.

That's bullshit. I grew up listening to absolute bullshit; the same bullshit that so many hear. You are not the same as me. Everyone should see race as that is your culture and that is how you identify. I see your race and I see the injustice attached to it. I see your race and I appreciate and respect it. I see your race and know that you will go through things that I will never go through and I am here and I will use every platform I can in order to benefit you. I want to use my privilege given to me by a society that consciously restricts the rights of POC.

I'm sorry that America has failed you. It continues to fail you, but there are many working to heal this country. Stand strong in your identity. I see your chains and will stand with you.