By BreAnna Jones,
When the protests broke out in Los Angeles on May 29th, I was sitting on my couch, cuddled next to my boyfriend in our brand new apartment in the heart of Downtown. We moved in just one week earlier with dreams of how this big step together would lead to marriage, family, and beyond. Cloud nine, as it were.
We heard the chaos before we saw it. The loud roar of helicopters circled above, the explosions of fireworks boomed below, and the crashing of windows shattered all around us. It was truly terrifying. The pain, fear, and anger that I held in my heart after the loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others, was now personified outside my window in the form of fire, glass, rubber bullets and tear gas.
I’m consistently amazed that amid true horror, our community has always discovered ways to find strength, joy, and LOVE.
And there we were, sitting silently, because for Black people, what’s understood doesn’t need to be explained. Frankly, this terror is not new to our people—chaos, crisis, and killing: welcome to Black America’s origin story. I’m consistently amazed that amid true horror, our community has always discovered ways to find strength, joy, and LOVE.
As the Digital Media Manager here at Black Love, I get to see and share positive images of Black Love and family daily. But the Black Love reality I see in my love life and work life is not the picture painted in this society. America has been at war with Black Love for over 400 years in the forms of enslavement, mass incarceration, police brutality, and racial injustices. And despite every systemic attempt to separate us, from the auction block to the prison block, love in our community still prevails.
In alignment with the mission of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Black Love team produced this Black Love Matters photo-series. Black Love, in all of its beauty and power, is a form of protest. Our acts of love and joy equate to resistance against every attempt to keep us from healthy marriages and families.
Love on, BL family. Love on.
@korneliusbascombe, @rachelthearchitect and @itsthebascombes (Photo credit: Breanna Jones/@breleased 
@korneliusbascombe, @rachelthearchitect and @itsthebascombes (Photo credit: Breanna Jones/@breleased 
@khatbrim (Photo credit: Breanna Jones/@breleased) 
@khatbrim (Photo credit: Breanna Jones/@breleased) 
@kitesandpumps (Photo credit: Breanna Jones/@breleased) 
@kitesandpumps (Photo credit: Breanna Jones/@breleased) 
@rhealone (Photo credit: Breanna Jones/@breleased) 
@raven50mm @goddessofxthemoon (Photo credit: Breanna Jones/@breleased)
Original article was published here.
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