“Dear child, you are beautiful. Your skin is home to rich, plentiful melanin that radiates warmth. You are a product of the sun’s loving kisses. Your nose, lips, and eyes were passed down to you by queens of past, and should be praised as such. And when the magazines fail to show you anything other than pale and porcelain, I will tug your curls and remind you that just because your beauty is not mass-produced, does not mean it does not fill every space you enter. Dear child, you matter. Generations before you believed you were worth fighting for. They held signs in their hands and hope in their eyes and said, “we will march for them. They are the future.” You hold as much life in you as there ever was, and deserve to discover all that your life can be. And when you hear of yet another injustice and find me with tears running down your cheeks, I will kiss your nose and remind you of the love and strength you came from. I will march for you. You are the future.”