People that know they are important, think about others. People that think they are important, think about themselves. #HansFHansen. Walk good. 28all. Eya. *JD, JG, WC*

The Warm-Up: 

“Fred Hampton’s mother used to babysit Emmett Till. George Floyd’s girlfriend was Daunte Wright’s teacher. U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario is Eric Garner’s cousin. To be interconnected by trauma—the ripple effect that anti-Black violence has generationally is immeasurable.” ~Aizehi Nomo (@aizehinomo)

The Core: 

“If you lose someone for being yourself, then you never had them to begin with.” ~Naval Ravikant

“In a lawn you cannot get equality of outcome with fertilizer and water, only with a mower.” ~David Wolpe

“People with courage distinguish what is right from what is wrong and what is fact from what is not.”  ~Kok Yim Ci Yuen

“Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.” ~Albert Einstein (attributed to)

“In case anyone’s forgotten, the killing of Daunte Wright by a Brooklyn Center police officer is why Colin Kaepernick took a knee.” ~Andrea Junker

“What would happen if the people most belligerent about the responses to injustice were as or more passionate about eradicating and preventing injustice?” ~Bernice King

“Organizations don’t get things done. Plans and programs don’t get things done. Only people get things done. Organization, plans, and programs either help or hinder people.” ~Colin Powell, It Worked For Me, In Life and Leadership

“Stop being patient and start asking yourself, ‘how do I accomplish my 10 years plan in 6 months?’ You will probably fail but you will be lot further ahead of the person who simply accepted it was going to take 10 years.” ~Elon Musk

“Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.” ~Rick Warren

“It’s impossible to tweet about anything Tech x VC x Startups related. The news cycle makes it impossible. I’m sitting in my Monday Partner meeting 100% useless. Haven’t unmuted once. ‘Keep it pushing, stay professional’ gets harder each time. But I’m exhausted for us. It hate it here.” ~Elliot Robinson, 4/12/21

“It’s traumatizing to see so much Black pain. These tragedies aren’t sad hypotheticals for me. They’re the reality I grew up and live in. It’s okay to be scared, sad, angry, or depressed. In moments like this we need community more than ever. You aren’t alone.” ~Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 181st district

“Most mental upside comes from the thrill of anticipation – actual experiences tend to fall flat, and your mind quickly moves on to anticipating the next event. That’s how dopamine works. If walking on the moon left astronauts underwhelmed, what does it say about our own earthly goals and expectations?” ~Morgan Housel, A Few Short Stories

“Our statement is that we are tired of making statements. It’s all been said. We need immediate accountability. We need restructure not reform. We need folks to remember that the ‘thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes it.’ We need to root out racism at its core. Love and Respect to the family of Daunte Wright. We will remember and say your name. Love to our community. We will continue this fight with pride and dignity.” ~The Gathering Spot

“Inter-century anthems based off inner-city tantrums / Based off the way we was branded / Face it, Jerome get more time than Brandon / And at the airport, they check all through my bag / And tell me that it’s random / But we stay winning…And a new beginning and a new fitted / And some job opportunities that’s lucrative / This the real world, homie, school finished / They done stole your dreams, you don’t know who did it…” ~Kanye West, Gorgeous

“People say to you, ‘you’ve changed’, or something like that, well, I hope, for the sake of God that you have changed, because I don’t want to be the same person all my life. I want to be growing, I want to be expanding. I want to be changing. Because animate things change, inanimate things don’t change. Dead things don’t change. And the heart should be alive, it should be changing, it should be moving, it should be growing, its knowledge should be expanding.” ~Shaykh Hamza Yusuf 

Last Set: 

“Industry really be killin’ my [people] / Guess entertainment business yin and the yang / Wait, I’m not the same, I can’t find no peace / I sacrifice my world to a world that ignore me / Black man in therapy, ‘cause white terror don’t sleep / I got to roll up my leaf, might stop the PTSD… / On God, I got some reason to wear my head down (Head down) / Pray all my odds be even ‘cause it get hard / And I follow what I feel, but that’s the issue (Issue) / My thoughts can be deceivin’ if they get a warm welcome…” ~Wale ft. 6Lack, Expectations

Food for Thought: 

“…cops aren’t supposed to kill guilty people either…” ~Daniella (@dgibber123)

“If you think there is no such thing as systematic racism, ask yourself why we know about #GeorgeFloyd past drug use but hardly any news outlets reported that there is body cam footage from 2017 of #DerekChauvin kneeling on a teen’s back for 17min while he says he can’t breathe.” ~Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36, 4/9/21)

Food for Thought II:

“I need to drive my two-year-old to daycare tomorrow morning. To ensure we arrive alive, we won’t take public transit (Oscar Grant). I removed all air fresheners from the vehicle and double-checked my registration status (Daunte Wright), and ensured my license plates were visible (Lt. Caron Nazario). I will be careful to follow all traffic rules (Philando Castille), signal every turn (Sandra Bland), keep the radio volume low (Jordan Davis), and won’t stop at a fast-food chain for a meal (Rayshard Brooks). I’m too afraid to pray (Rev. Clementa C. Pickney) so I just hope the car won’t break down (Corey Jones). 

When my wife picks him up at the end of the day, I’ll remind her not to dance (Elijah McClain), stop to play in a park (Tamir Rice), patronize the local convenience store for snacks (Trayvon Martin), or walk around the neighborhood (Mike Brown). Once they are home, we won’t stand in our backyard (Stephon Clark), eat ice cream on the couch (Botham Jean), or play any video games (Atatiana Jefferson). 

After my wife and I tuck him into bed around 7:30pm, neither of us will leave the house to go to Walmart (John Crawford) or to the gym (Tshyrand Oates) or on a jog (Ahmaud Arbery). We won’t even walk to see the birds (Christian Cooper). We’ll just sit and try not to breathe (George Floyd) and not to sleep (Breonna Taylor). 

These are things white people simply do not have to think about.” ~David Gray

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