My platform, though primarily for all women, as written by me has the ownership and perspective of a Black Woman. An Undeniably, Enlightened and Absolutely Beautiful Black Woman.   

And I begin with this bold proclamation because I want you and all of us who share the same hue, melanin, and ancestral roots to embrace the truth that yes, Black Lives Matter, but We Have Already and Always MATTERED.

Like the world I have watched the evolution, growth and strengthening of the profoundly important and necessary Black Lives Matter movement that has swept across the globe.  And though it has its origin based on one of the most heinous crimes witnessed against humanity and a people, (I say “one” lest we forget the plight, blight, and intentional near extinction of the Native American people that has been an ongoing travesty since 1492)

and how this is now being embraced as the one of most important initiative that has come into existence, this is not a new truth.  We as a people have been living this experience of convenient denial or acceptance forever in this country. Yet, We Have Already and Always Mattered

I don’t know if the world would rather me/we be appreciative, grateful and thankful for this newfound surge of compassion, caring, and recognition when in fact what I am is Totally EXHAUSTED.

Nevertheless, I am extremely grateful for the Black Lives Matter movement.  I am thankful for the courage, awareness, and conscientiousness of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi.   I stand in solidarity and with sincere regard and respect for the Black Lives Matter movement, philosophy, and purpose.  However, I am saddened though not surprised, that there is the necessity for such a racially motivated and socially charged movement. 

Yet, let us be 100% clear in this - As a Black Woman, I Always Mattered.

As a human being, I Always Mattered.

Society didn’t and doesn’t get to decide my/our value, our worth, our worthiness, our beauty, and our mattering because they deem it to be so or choose to determine that it is not so.  My / Our God-Given presence is the affirmation that We Matter.  We Have Always Mattered.  We Will Always Matter. 

In the Forever & Eternal Present Tense - I MATTER