I am hearing and seeing hurt, anger, frustration, and even resignation at the continued and cumulative racial injustices in America. As someone who loves our country very deeply, I believe that when any part of our family isn’t being treated fairly, it is a problem for all of us.

The protests in North Carolina and across the country are an important space for us to communicate those feelings and our desire for change — protests deeply rooted in the First Amendment to the Constitution. But if there can be any hope for our future, they must happen without violence, destruction, or further lives lost.

Let’s work together to direct our sense of despair toward constructive change: accountability for public officials, policy reforms, and action at the ballot box.

That means working toward a country where Black Americans don’t fear for their safety each time they leave home, where we seek justice for victims and their families, and where we hold accountable any law enforcement that doesn’t serve as a guardian but instead becomes a warrior against our own citizens. It also means taking on other longstanding structural inequities — in health, education, wealth, housing, and the judicial system.

The conversations we are having are as hard as they are important, and in them, I will keep listening. I will keep working to be better myself and encourage others to find their own voices. And I pledge to be part of a better form of politics and governance that runs toward these problems, rather than turns away out of indifference.

Out of love of country comes my abiding faith that we can change — and from the countless Americans raising their voices across the country comes my hope that we can build our more perfect union.

Thank you,

Cal