This is the year.

I want to process an event that just happened. I'm processing it like this - publicly and in long-form - because I still can't believe it happened, and especially because I can't believe it happened at a place like Harvard. I have been calling out silence and neutrality for a long time. I know taking a position on these issues, and becoming a part of this movement for people who are not black can take a lot of reflection, because calling out the structurally violent and racist system we are all a part of means calling out our own privilege. It means recognizing that your safety, and even your success, is due to privileges that are not of your own making. Confronting privilege takes times, and I think is a necessary step to not only become a true participant in this movement, but also for real societal change.  As an organizer in the movement at the law school, I have seen the difficulty of engaging with people who are not themselves affected by the violence and ine

To the man in the coffee shop who asked me why I went out to disrupt people's commute home, to Boston Mayor who criticized the thousands of committed #BlackLivesMatter protesters for "frightening a child ... who just came there to see Santa Claus and instead had people screaming in her ear," and to everyone who has not yet taken a position on the violence occurring across the country or is remaining silent --- here are a few thoughts. I am not sorry that you had to wait 4.5 minutes to cross the street. What I am sorry about was that you did not take that opportunity to come out, learn about what has drawn hundreds of thousands into the streets in this country, and joined the protest yourself. We started disrupting because cops murdered an Black man and then left his body on the street for 4.5 hours. But we have continued to disrupt because it is undeniable that this is not an isolated incident and it is undeniable that this system does not equally treat Blacks and oth