Dear unborn child,

I fear for your life and you are not even here yet.

I fear knowing that I am bringing you into a world

that wants to hold you accountable for the color of your skin,

but not by the actions and knowledge that you hold within.

I am scared for yor life,

because once you come out my womb

you will be antagonized for your melanin and will not understand why.

I will have to teach you that everyday that you wak out the house that your life is in danger.

I will have to teach you that, although you may know your rights,

it wont always matter in the eyes of the law

because those rights weren't made to protect you.

Dear unborn chld,

I fear for your sister and your father.

I fear that your dad will get pulled over and die for a traffic violation.

I fear that your sister will be in the car to witness his murder and be forever scarred by the cruelty in this world.

Dear unborn son or daughter,

I fear that you may look older than what you are and be treated as such no matter how much you try to say otherwise.

Dear unborn child,

I fear that I am bringing you into a world where you walk out the door and you will have two strikes against you.

They will be for either being a black woman or a black man.

But, unborn child, do no mistake my fear for you as an absence of love.

Because I will love you to the end of time.

But my harshness an reality checks will only be in place to protect you

in a world that will make you feel like it's against you.

I wil tell you day in and day out, that the only way to fight ignornace is to be as educated as possible.

Becuase the fear that they have may be much greater than mine.

Nothing is more poweful than an educated mind.

So unborn child, although I may be afraid,

I do not want you to feel as though you must let this world intimidate you.

You are strong, you are beautiful and you are intelligent.