Director of Youth Policy, Kisha Bird, recently penned a commentary on Medium sharing her reflections on the moment, the movement, and the reckoning that is currently transforming our conversations, our relationships, our communities, our nation, and our world. Here’s an excerpt.

It’s 2:45 Sunday morning. I’ve been talking to my brother and sister-in-love all night about #Karengonewild, the protests and uprisings, our first marches as kids in Philly, and another #@%&*^ % murder of a Black man — Rayshard Brooks — by the police in our second home of Atlanta. We are recounting the daily microagressions we’ve become conditioned to navigating in our personal and professional lives, how we go through life picking and choosing our battles to protect ourselves and keep our jobs, and how we keep our children safe. Our conversation is raw as we relive the countless moments of invisibility and disrespect, from childhood to the present. We laugh at all the reckonings the Karens and Roberts are having, for they are finally being exposed. We are hurt because my brother and sister can’t allow my nephew to celebrate his high school graduation like countless other kids this month — go joy riding with friends around the neighborhood, hang out, chill at a party — because it’s not safe for young Black men in their multi-racial neighborhood after dark. It all takes a toll. We are frustrated, we are tired, we are fired up, we are plotting, we are hurt, we are resolved, we are… we are defiant, we are prepared.

For Kisha’s full commentary and set of policy guidance, see her post on Medium.