115 Black Lives Matter

As I record this episode here in the United States, we are seeing boil over the anger, frustration, and rage over the killing of George Floyd, and more generally, police brutality disproportionately aimed at people of color and the systemic racism that has been so prevalent in our society. I typically don’t dive into what’s going on in the news, but this is not news. This has been going on for a long, long time. And either I speak up and run the risk of offending people, or I stay silent for fear of saying the wrong thing. Since I believe in uplifting people to speak their truth, I’m going to speak mine, as imperfectly as I might do it. I apologize in advance if my words are inelegant, if I “say the wrong thing,” and I’m open to learning and doing better.

I talk about my own journey of coming to terms with my white privilege, just how unaware I’ve been, and what I’ve started to do to change that. And I offer a collection of resources that I’ve started learning from and that you might find helpful as well.

I give action steps that you can take with your local government and police force, a list of organizations to which you can donate, businesses you can support, ways to have impact within your own company and even family, and a variety of things you can do on a day to day basis. Here are links to a few things I mention:

Black Lives Matter https://blacklivesmatter.com/

NAACP https://www.naacp.org/

UNCF https://uncf.org/

Embrace Race https://www.embracerace.org/

We Buy Black https://webuyblack.com/

The Black Wallet http://theblackwallet.com/

Rachel Cargle

https://www.instagram.com/rachel.cargle

https://www.instagram.com/thelovelandfoundation/

https://www.instagram.com/thegreatunlearn/

https://www.rachelcargle.com/

Austin Channing Brown (her book, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness)

http://austinchanning.com/

https://www.instagram.com/austinchanning

Sophie Williams

https://www.instagram.com/officialmillennialblack

http://sophiewilliamsofficial.com/

Silver Danielle

https://www.instagram.com/thatgirlsfly

http://www.herroyaldopeness.com/

And here are some books that I plan to read:

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo.

Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad

What If I Say the Wrong Thing? 25 Habits for Culturally Effective People, by Vernā Myers

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi

This is our time, my sisters. This is how we change the world, one woman at a time. May you live purposefully, may you love yourself, and may you love life.