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It broke my heart to have to even tiptoe near the subject when he started asking questions recently. They were rapid-fire questions as he watched pictures and video of protests stemming from George Floyd’s murder. As a Black woman, I’ve had countless conversations about race, inequality and my personal experience with it. But this would’ve been the first time with my child, and I couldn’t find the words. I froze. I stuttered, I stumbled, I cried. I choked up telling him we may be treated differently because of the color of our skin. I hid my tears so he couldn’t sense that I was panicking.

He’s only 2-and-a-half now, but one day we’ll come back to this conversation. And we’ll explain to him that his dad, a military police veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan, sometimes wears an “Army Veteran” hat so he appears less threatening.

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A post shared by janai (@janai.norman) on Apr 3, 2020 at 9:42am PDT

We’ll tell him we had a frank conversation with his first teacher about implicit bias and we’ll explain the preschool-to-prison pipeline.

We’ll tell him he and his sister were born at home out of concerns over this country’s maternal mortality rate for Black women.

We’ll explain the affirmations he says everyday are reminders that he’s powerful, a leader and that he can do anything because society may tell him otherwise.

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“You wanna take a picture with Mickey?” “No, no. I do it.” 🤷🏾‍♀️

A post shared by janai (@janai.norman) on Feb 25, 2020 at 7:47pm PST

We’ll tell him the stories of Ahmaud Arbery, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and so many others. We’ll have so much to explain. And hopefully by then I’ll have the words.

I will always look at my son and see this little boy with a megawatt smile, big, bright eyes and a contagious giggle. And as much I wish everyone else did, too, I know society won’t and I can’t protect him from that.

Janai Norman is Pop News anchor for \"Weekend GMA\" and an ABC News correspondent.

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