Jesus said LOVE.

When I first decided to create a blog, I never imagined I would be sitting here deciphering my emotions towards all the violence that is happening around us. Every post I've ever written has been about our awesome life in the fabulous world of football, but today is a little different.

My husband will tell you that I spend too much time on social media, and well, I can agree with that. With that said, I sit behind this computer screen with a heavy heart today. I think our nation as a whole has a heavy heart today.

As a white woman, I have a different perspective to the systemic race problem our nation faces. It's not just against blacks, but every minority race. As a white woman married to a black man, and raising young mixed boys into strong black men, I have an even different perspective.

Life is all about perspective and point of view. No two people's lives are the same. No two people react to a situation the same. No two people face the same struggles.

America, we lack perspective. We lack understanding and compassion. We lack empathy. We lack love. Jesus said love.

While I, like every other American, do not know every fact of the Alton Sterling shooting or the Philando Castile shootoings, I do several other facts.

Fact #1: RACIAL PROFILING IS REAL.
Racial profiling happens every day- both subconsciously and consciously.
America racially profiles Blacks, Muslims, Hispanics, Asians. Your very own Donald Trump racially profiles Hispanics. It happens. Understand that. Accept that and then we can move forward with change.

Studies show that police are more likely to pull over and frisk blacks or Latinos than whites. In New York City, 80% of the stops made were blacks and Latinos, and 85% of those people were frisked, compared to a mere 8% of white people stopped. THAT is racial profiling!

Fact #2

In 2012, 51% of Americans expressed anti-black sentiments in a poll; a 3% increase from 2008. Now, I am not a math person, but I do know that more than half of our nation has issues with Black America. I would feel safe in assuming that if they have those sentiments towards Blacks then they have the same feelings toward other minorities.

Fact #3

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics concluded that an African American male born in 2001 has a 32% chance of going to jail in his lifetime, while a Latino male has a 17% chance, and a white male only has a 6% chance. Since I have two young boys, this stat really hits home. No, I don't need your sympathy or compassion. My boys have a good father. As parents we will raise our children and we will teach them respect, integrity, and character. However, that does not change the fact that they are 26% more likely to see jail time over a white kid. Black males lose their life and get incarcerated unjustly based on the color of their skin, their sagging pants, their "gang" tattoos EVERY SINGLE DAY. That is not to say that it doesn't happen to every other race, but it a greater percentage among the black community.

For you to deny that this exists in our nation, is pure ignorance on your part.

Fact #4:

Our nation needs more compassion and love. Yes, white people can sympathize and have compassion for Black America;, however, it is impossible to understand their feelings and their lives if you are white in America. 

Former house speaker Newt Gingrich summed up my thinking nicely. Here is an excerpt of his thoughts. The full article is linked below.

"It took me a long time, and a number of people talking to me through the years to get a sense of this," said Gingrich, who served as speaker from 1990 until 1995 and who represented an Atlanta-area congressional district for two decades.

"If you are a normal white American, the truth is you don’t understand being black in America," he said.

White Americans "instinctively underestimate the level of discrimination and the level of additional risk," he said.

LA Times: Newt Gingrich

Now as a coach's wife, I spend a lot of my time with black athletes and love each one as my own. I hear their stories and watch as people in their community racially profile them based on skin color. I watch them act in certain ways that they are "expected" to act based on the color of their skin.

If you missed Jesse William's speech from the BET Awards, I would recommend giving it a listen. Jesse William Speech

In closing yes all lives matter, but don't get on a soap box for #alllivesmatter when you never acknowledged #blacklivesmatter. If you support #alllivesmatter then you should support #blacklivesmatter and #policelivesmatter. Don't assume that racism is history when it is in our present and sadly will be in our future. 

The beautiful things about our nation, we have the freedom to have differing perspectives. With that freedom, we must learn to respect the opinions of others.