My heart is heavy, my mind is a jumble, and my soul is hurting. I want to live in a world where our differences aren’t ignored or used against us. I want to live in a world where those differences are seen and celebrated. I want to live in a world where we notice each other’s hardships do whatever we can to help each other. So to my white friends or friends who keep saying all lives matter this post is for you.
When Ava was diagnosed with leukemia, our family’s priority was saving her life. I would tell anyone who would listen that the world couldn’t lose her because her life mattered. She was here to be someone and do some fantastic things in this life. Kevin and my priority was getting her healthy. She was first in our list of petitions and thoughts. Her care, her treatment, her needs were the most important to us. Not because we loved her more, but because she was the one suffering. She was the one who needed it the most. Never did we think that our other two children didn’t matter. Never did we neglect Kohen or Ellie. Never ever did they say or assume we didn’t care about them or their health. They understood that at that time, AJ’s life was the one in danger. They understood that we could say Ava’s life mattered and not take it as a slight. At the time, they were 9 and 11, and they realized that someone else could be the focus, and it didn’t change their importance or our love for them.

Dear friends-
Our Black brothers and sisters are hurting. They’re the ones who need to be our focus. Their struggle, their safety, their lives need our attention and care. Those are the lives we need to fight for right now. Stop saying all lives matter if you haven’t first said; Black Lives Matter.
For my Christian friends- are you doing Jesus’s work if you’re not speaking out about the injustices the Black community is suffering? As a friend said, are you washing the feet of our Black brother and sisters? If it were Jesus suffering these things, would you be speaking up? What would you be saying? Are you doing that now? Aren’t we supposed to see Jesus in everyone, Black people included?

If you think I’m speaking to you, I probably am. Look at these faces, which I adore with all my heart. Look at them and then tell everyone you know on all the platforms you have that Black Lives Matter.