The work to dismantle white supremacy IS ITSELF often clouded by white supremacy. By the effort, and expectation, surrounding who gets centered and what it means. By the attempts to disengage with the substance of what we’re saying by focusing on the tone of how we said it. By acting as if your participation in this conversation, in this effort towards healing, is solely for our benefit. It is not. Nor should it be.

The need to respond to Black Lives Matter with anything other than: yes, unequivocally, is evidence of where Anti-Blackness lives. There is a deep discomfort with acknowledging our humanity without a caveat or a qualifier or a “only if this is met first” and even then it’s a false negotiation. “All Lives” Blue Lives” are both responses that are more focused on disproving than affirming. It’s meant to start an argument because what’s being unsaid is that Black Lives don’t matter enough to have a moment of uninterrupted recognition.

Sometimes being consistent means taking a break. Sometimes being consistent means taking a step back. Sometimes being consistent means pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. Sometimes being consistent means being okay with feeling uncomfortable or unsure. The more I reclaim my notion of “showing up consistently” or even my relationship to my “work ethic” from external rewards and external outcomes, the more I find inner alignment. The more I find inner alignment, the more the world around me shifts to reflect what I’ve found.

I am more than the work that I produce. I am more than the things that I make. Whether I’m productive or quiet or consistent or unsure - I remain all of me. Whether I’m heard or ignored or amplified or supported - I remain all of me. Whether I show up or show out or show myself the quiet of my own company - I remain all of me. I produce the work.

I reject the notion that we need to choose between loving Black People and loving Veterans. That’s the choice that they’ve presented us with. And since this country doesn’t love Black People, and loves to pretend to love Veterans, it’s a choice that’s being given continued and continual voice. This false choice is an indication of how white supremacy distorts our ability to see each other. This country’s treatment of Veterans is contemptible.

I wrote my first song (that I can remember) when I was pretty young. I spent the better part of the years to come jotting down rhymes in the corners of my notebooks, on the back of receipts, and later in my cell phone memo pads. Writing those thoughts down gave them somewhere to go but I never thought anything of it. Even as the words sung to me — I didn’t give much thought to this thing I happened to do.