i’ve been a mess over the murder of Elijah McClain.

i haven’t had the words to post about it, honestly. i don’t know if Elijah was on the spectrum or not. though i suspect he was, i haven’t seen it confirmed. i have nephews who are Black and on the spectrum. who very well, one day, could be out and about waving their arms stemming or scripting and someone could report them for acting strange as the shop owner did. Are they going to be left alone, or given assistance, or killed by police for not reading social cues or not responding in a normative way??? Elijah did nothing wrong. This is so cruel what happened to him. He was walking home from purchasing an iced tea. He was dancing around waving his arms. He was wearing an open face ski mask because he was anemic. He was close to home. Why couldn’t the police have just walked/escorted him home?

Elijah played violin for shelter animals, he was loved by everyone for his kind and gentle spirit, he only weighed 140 lbs and he was anemic – what threat was he posing? Police once again assumed the worst, didn’t listen the the pleas for help and inability to breathe, ignored the vomiting.

I encourage you to read up on this, but also to look at these photos of this gentle soul who was killed and read his final words before his life was taken.

#ElijahMcClain

#JusticeForElijahMcClain

#BlackLivesMatter