UNAPOLOGETICALLY Black
I am an African American woman and I am not OK!
Houston, Texas - #GeorgeFloydProtest
With yet ANOTHER senseless killing of a black male I can’t keep quiet. I’ll be honest it wasn’t easy deciding to post about it on my business page. I had all the thoughts. What if people unfollow me? What if I lose business? I am doing this full time now. BUT what if I said nothing and those same what ifs still happened?
I decided to post about our current state and how I can relate to this besides the color of my skin. I plan weddings and with that comes Grooms and Groomsmen. I love my guys, even my problem child in each group because it's always one. I went through my photos and my voice came for them. Even though I play a small part in their story, I could not dare handle the news hearing something happening to ANY of them. Some are cops, some are in the military, some are fathers, and to know each time they leave their home they are a target. I have to speak, show up, and most importantly pray for them.
I pray that this moment does not die down. Today, for the first time I joined my friends at the #GregoryFloyd Protest here in Houston, Texas. I am glad I pushed through the fear of what if this goes wrong? What if something happens? To my knowledge and as I write this in my bed tonight it was a peaceful protest with 60,000 plus people in attendance. H-Town showed up and out and I couldn’t be prouder to be a Houstonian. BUT that wasn’t the best part. To walk up and down the streets of downtown Houston and to see SOO many people who didn’t look like me gave me hope.
#BlackLivesMatter
Hope that change will come from this. That just maybe this will bring change to how some see us. See us for humans like themselves and not for the color of our skin. Another great thing for me today was Apple took a stand with #TheShowMustBePaused and paused music on their service and you could only hear the sounds of how we’ve been feeling. It gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes when Glory by Common and John Legend came on. I had to show up and we did. To see more companies follow suit and address the issues gives me hope.
I say all this to say I’m using my voice on my platform. It doesn’t take from my craft, but if this doesn’t sit well with you I pray you figure out why.
UNAPOLOGETICALLY,
Lauren Ashley
