Faithit

I went from celebrating an 11-year-old boy's birthday party with my brothers and sisters at work to responding to the absolutely tragic death of two babies. This is the other side. The raw side that nobody talks about.

“Is he walking yet?” I immediately gave a long-winded response, probably 5 sentences longer than was expected. I didn’t realize until about a minute after the conversation was over where I thought to myself, “Why did you even go there?” I could have simply smiled and answered, “No, not yet,” but instead I had to share everything else he is doing as if it was an issue he’s not yet walking at 12 months.

"My experience as the token black friend for my entire life has allowed me a unique lens into many of the gaps that are currently preventing mutual understanding between white and black people."

"Expect him to grow wild and fast. Expect to pay close attention when he slows down. Expect tears to fall and the biggest belly laughs."

"I’ve been ignored, called names, and spit on; not only as a black man, but also as a black police officer."

"We walked for 15 minutes more. We discover how much we have in common and yet how different we are. I asked him, ‘How are you holding up with all this?’ He was honest, so was I."

My brown son doesn't get the benefit of the doubt like my white son does.

Investigators called the family into the police station under the guise that they would be identifying some of their stolen items.