Be The Change

I know speaking up against racism is uncomfortable.

We, as white people, have been conditioned to believe it's "impolite" to have these talks out in the open. We have been told it's better than it was, so what's the big deal? We have been socialized to believe that if we speak up we will become the brunt of hate ourselves. We have been told that we, as women, are marginalized too, and therefore we're not capable of being oppressors. We have been told it's better to keep quiet and stay comfortable than to standup to our family, our friends, our communities.

What I have come to find though, is that staying comfortably silent is far more painful than rejection from those that wish I would shut up and get in line. The pain of knowing people are dying, people are being treated as less than human, hurts way more than any angry responses I receive. I cannot spend my time on this Earth ignoring the plight of my fellow humans, my fellow citizens, my friends, and my neighbors.

Furthermore, any discomfort I experience when speaking out pales in comparison to what it is like to live on the other side of this system. The discomfort, pain, and fear of living as a brown or black person in this country is so severe, and so heightened, that it is as if we live in two disparate worlds that share the same space.

So far, the majority of people I've seen speak up on behalf of Ahmaud have been black. And this is why we still live with a system of racism. Until white people hold other white people accountable, nothing will change. We should not hold the power in tearing this system down. But we do.

And this is when so many want to say, "But I didn't do this. People 400 hundred years ago did. How can you blame me???" I'm not blaming you. I'm asking you to leave this world better than you found it.

If you went to a park and saw trash on the ground, would you pick it up, or would you say, "Well someone did that before me so I shouldn't be asked to pick it up."

It doesn't matter who made the mess. What matters is who has the integrity to leave this world better than they found it.

As I said when I began this, it's uncomfortable to speak up against racism. But you know what's even more uncomfortable? Living in fear because your skin color threatens white people. Or worse, losing your LIFE because you can be killed without reason.

In writing posts like these, I realize I will turn many off to the work I do. People will come here, see posts like this, and want nothing to do with my meditations and my work. I'm sorry it has to be that way. But I cannot in good faith create work intended to heal while turning my back on the healing we need as a country.