What makes a person take their own life? At just twelve years old, that little girl already too old for this world. I mean, it's not like I haven't thought about it myself: white people like a good tragedy, like white people like Ikea kitchen cabinetry, like white people don't like to think about what it's like not to be white. Like white people like their justice like they like their little lieswhite. But this is not an indictment of lightness of skinin itself it's not a sinbut this whiteness is a sickness or condition we are living in. Or under. It's no wonder some are moved to drastic measures or chose to lose themselves in temporary but toxic pleasures. It's a wonder we can even be together. Now is not the time for a measured public response and empty political gestures. Another ineffectual forum or platform for discussion: a conversation that always revolves around a centred white position. As if it were always that way, somehow natural or inevitable, like a planet that just keeps getting a little less hospitable, a little warmer, a little harder. And in some places people will always be boiling their water.

What makes a person take their own life? At ten years old, another little girl already too old for this world. And it's not an uncommon occurrence, sadly. This was just the latest in a series of tragedies. And with increased frequency does it by definition cease to be so? I hope, for all our sakes, the answer is no.