When 3 million more people vote for a presidential candidate, but that candidate still loses, the system sucks. Period. It's broken. I think it's broken if the candidate loses by one vote and still wins. Losing by 3 million votes, but still winning the election, is preposterous.
We live in a country where movies, music, and sports are more important than God to a lot of people. It's why Colin Kaepernick's protest rocked the nation and got the whole world talking. Taking a knee is a simple act of defiance. Had Colin done it anywhere other than the football field, it might not have even made the news.
'The Star-Spangled Banner' should've never been made into our national anthem. That President Woodrow Wilson, widely thought to be one of the most bigoted presidents ever elected, chose it as our national anthem, is painfully telling as well.
Politicians can and should be held accountable for their choices.
Before I ever endorse a candidate, I meet them, interview them, interview their colleagues and evaluate their competitors, study their positions and ideas, look at their campaign... then make a decision.
'Black Panther' had a whole cast of beautiful black brilliance. Black scientists. Black presidents. The style. The technology. The color.
I would never crawl into a secret space to avoid the frustrating things.
When Trump was elected, it gave white men - particularly white men in power - full, unfettered permission to say or do whatever they want without consequence.
It was my long-held belief that police brutality would increase under the Trump administration.
By the time I reached middle school, I fully identified myself not even as biracial but just as black.
Of course Trump thinks he is above the law. For his entire life, he has been able to say and do whatever he felt like saying or doing - not just without consequence, but he has been able to say or do whatever he felt like saying or doing - and rise up all the way to the position of President of the United States.
Much of the foundation of our criminal justice system is derived from slave patrols and was created when African Americans could still be bought, sold, and traded.
I was never a white guy pretending to be black. Not once, ever, did it occur to me that I was being phony or fraudulent or fake. Quite the opposite - I always believed I was living the truest form of my self.
The justice systems in San Diego, Alameda, and Sacramento counties are horrible.
Injustice has exhausted people but also pushed them to organize and fight back in very sophisticated ways.
Because of tax laws governing charities, including almost every single civil rights organization you've ever heard of, including the NAACP, the Urban League, the ACLU, and others, those organizations are not allowed to endorse political candidates or use their resources in political campaigns of any kind.
When people meet me or hear me in person, they quickly learn that I am much more than a tweet and a profile picture.
Adults who loved and knew me, on many occasions sat me down and told me that I was black. As you could imagine, this had a profound impact on me and soon became my truth. Every friend I had was black; my girlfriends were black. I was seen as black, treated as black, and endured constant overt racism as a young black teenager.
Never have I once identified myself as white.
People I love and trust advise me to just drop off the face of the Earth for an extended period of time, and maybe that will calm or cool things down. But my work is very public work.
