I can't fathom how you feel. I have never looked at my son and known that one day I would need to explain to him that even though he is sweet and kind and obedient he might one day be seen as a threat simply for existing. I've never worried that his life would be reduced to a cautionary hashtag or Facebook post. I've never had to send my little boy out to play with the same kinds of warning one might give a young man going to war. I don't know how you feel. And my son will never know how your son feels. But I can teach my son how to be better than the the generations before him. I can teach him to listen to you and your son and I will. I promise to teach him to really hear your son's voice and perspective. I promise to teach him to honor your son, to treat him with dignity and kindness. I promise to raise him to be the kind of man who respects your sons, and everyone's sons and daughters for that matter. I promise to teach him the value of EVERY. HUMAN. LIFE. And I promise to lead this by example, to be this kind of person myself. And in the meantime my heart is with you.
