It’s a sad world we live in. It breaks my heart to turn on the news and see another innocent man shot and killed for no other reason than the color of his skin. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do is sit by my girlfriend and try to comfort her and make her feel safe when people are dying in the streets simply because they look like her. I had to sit there and listen to her tears about how she doesn’t want to lose her family because these unarmed black men are her family, they are her cousins, they are her 16-year-old brother. What am I supposed to do?

I could never possibly know what it’s like to have my people dying in our neighborhoods, what it’s like to be targeted for something I can’t control. My heart breaks for the families of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. It also breaks for my girlfriend and everyone else in the black community. I love my girlfriend more than anything in this world. She’s the woman of my dreams and to see her in tears over the senseless killings of people just like her is sickening.

Honestly I can’t stand it anymore. I sit here and I think of my future children. There’s a good chance that they will be mixed and will be darker than me. The world will see them as black. How could I possibly explain to them that because of the beautiful skin they were born in, they have to be careful around the men and women sworn to protect us? I’m only 21 and I fear for the future of my children. How can I comfort them when they turn on the news and get scared? How can I keep them safe?

My girlfriend saw the news and cried over the idea of losing her family. All I could do was hold her. My white suburban mother isn’t going to get “randomly” stopped by cops at a higher rate. But what I do know is the pain of losing a loved one, my father passed away when I was only 15, and that is a pain I never want my girlfriend to experience.

I’ll never know exactly what to say when it comes to things like this because well…What could I possibly say? It’s senseless killing after senseless killing. It makes my heart ache. I cried for her, I cried with her. I didn't know what to do. The one thing I do know is that I will love and support my girlfriend and her amazing and wonderful family. I will pray for them and I WILL NOT BE SILENT TO INJUSTICE.