By: Hallie Horton

I want this to be succinct. Black Lives Matter and we (white people) need to prove we know it. We need to take responsibility and make things right. White people need to be: watching, reading, marching, signing, calling, changing, rewriting, demanding, and listening.

Tremaine Aldon Neverson, otherwise known as Trey Songz, released a track called “2020 Riots: How Many More Times” on June 5 in response to the Black Lives Matter marches and riots springing up literally all over the world, and when I say we need to be listening, this is what I mean. The more perspective white people have on what it’s like to be a Black person living in America, the more we care, the more we change, and the more we help. Neverson provides a poignant, raw, yet uplifting glance into the Black experience, singing:

“Take a look around, can you see it now? Don't be colorblind, 'cause when they're killin' mine, they'll try to justify it (each and every time – playin' in a park, takin' your jog, sittin' on the couch, in your own house). It's so hard to sing these words out loud. All these beautiful, precious black lives lost in the name of senseless white pride. Tears fallin' from my eyes. Tell me how can you be quiet? You know the language of the unheard, is a riot. All we ever see from you is violence. You know you ain't no better if you silent. You talking 'bout the city on fire. Where your rage when my people die? We ain't slaves. Let my people fly. Now it's time, watch my people rise.”

I know so many of us are trying our damndest to do better, and but we need to not stop. We owe our lives to Black people. This is our time. No more excuses. We can’t keep fucking this up.