Whenever an unarmed black man is killed, I get a call from my mother and sometimes I hesitate to pick up. It’s painful to hear the fear and worry in her voice. And I know it’s her calling even before I look at my phone — the ring tone even sounds different to me. Those notes land on my tiny ears differently when my mom calls.

So this time I decided to call her and record it for you to listen to. Because when people ask me how I’m doing right now, the honest response is I’m thinking about my mother. I’m thinking about how she's doing. So this episode is about that.