Everytime I think about the ways our country has systematically found sophisticated ways to destroy our Black bodies, I get sick to my stomach. To think of Brandon Bernard tonight is to feel that churning. I so want him and thousands like us to be free, to live. Have mercy, Lord.

And the depressing part is that there has been so many of us that have been destroyed and so many who live under the weight of the Destruction and so many of us who resist the Destruction and so many of us who have to teach our precious children to face Destruction with dignity.

I literally hate that this country and the people of this country can terrorize us with impunity. The system is racist and does not care about our futures. So many try to love us and stand in solidarity with us. And then it happens: our bodies are destroyed and forgotten.

Is that not a sick way to be American? Is that not a sick way to be a country? Must we always be crucified? Must our people’s hearts break as they do dance? Will there be no justice in a system fundamentally unjust? Our Black bodies deserve better. We deserve much better.