As one might think, today is a day that brings up many complicated feelings. What seems to have become a perpetual state of mourning mixed with one of the very few days during the year in which Black life and Black freedom is more widely celebrated honestly and authenically is complex. My feelings are in the middle. Daily the challenges by people who look like me and sound like me are supposed to be lessening because thousands of people have posted black squares on their timelines in what is supposed to be seen as an act of solidarity. Performative gestures by many, the donations will continue to dry up and unfortunately more will likely die at the hands of a powerful state force which was created during slavery to do the very job that they continue to do today. But as I listen to the words of the Negro National Anthem, Life Every Voice and Sing, I find some hope. Hope that more people will come to know this day as a celebration. Hope that no other Black person has to die on camera in order for more people to care and to make it seem like their life matters. Hope and celebration that came like when the proclamation of freedom was read to those who should have already been free and who resided in the same state as I know live. That’s what I’m hoping for today. Black Lives Matter “Let us march on till victory is won…” - James Weldon Johnson from the Negro National Anthem