Open Letter (Surviving A War Zone) Jada Pinkett Smith (Ft. 2Pac)

In this picture I'm flanked by two extremely close friends of mine...Tupac and Maxine. They both died tragically not too far apart from one another. I flipped through more pictures of my youth only to come across at least 6 other friends who had been taken from this world...violently. I can't even count acquaintances. There was a time all that loss felt like the norm; today it felt unnatural, strange, downright wrong. Half of my life was surviving a war zone...genocide. I'm grateful for what I have survived. GratefuI that I can spend an evening with Fallon playing a pie in the face game. Grateful I didn't become a statistic like I often thought I would. Grateful that my own children don't have to confront the loss and violence in their neighborhood in the way their parents had to. But, I also feel helpless, a bit depressed that there are so many of us who still do. And it feels like it's only gotten and getting worse.

I'm hurting today.

Love you guys.

J