Alright. I am going to do my best to be very brief. Like many White Americans who are learning how to be good allies, I have been trying to understand how not be silent in relationship to current events in general, and the brutal murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans by police officers in specific, while simultaneously not centering myself and my whiteness in any way within how I participate in this conversation. I imagine that I am overthinking everything considering that I have already committed to getting it wrong in favor of doing nothing. I am someone who generally processes things out loud and often in this space, and I have been feeling my own absence here acutely. That combined with an obligation to my networks and the few folks whose ears I have to at the very least share where I stand and what I believe is important at this time.
First, we began conversations about systemic racism, implicit bias, and Black Lives Matter, in earnest in our household in 2016. I am very thankful for this foundation presently and I would be lying if I did not say that I feel a degree of pride in how informed and thoughtful my kids are on race in America, especially Maple, whose understanding and articulation in the conversation far surpasses my own. And of course, I wish that I had begun educating myself and my children about race from the very beginning and the very fact of my lack of awareness around this speaks to a lifetime of perpetual privilege.
Second, I am under no impression that these family conversations had in the privacy of our home are anywhere close to being enough. We are each of us a part of a very real living history and our actions are writing the story about the part we play whether we see it that way or not.
Personally, I have been trying to clarify my understanding of my work in the world within the domain of self-care and in what ways self-care is foundational and intersectional with community and cultural wellness and global connectivity. In my heart of hearts, I believe that the power of a regular meditation and contemplation practice is not just personal but is in fact political and reaches to the very ends of the globe. It is imperative that we as human beings have direct access to our source of compassion, empathy, and love, and I believe that self-inquiry and the quiet practices of self-care are some of the best access points.
I have been letting these be the guiding principles in how I show up: Listen, Learn, Donate, Act, Educate.
So, here is what I am reading or listening to right now and in the days to come:
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, I also have his new board book for littles, Antiracist Baby, on pre-order.
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Other resources that I have experience with and highly recommend are Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad, as well as her Good Ancestor podcast; Skill in Action by Michelle Johnson; Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. Maple’s top recommendation is Cry The Beloved Country by Alan Paton which she read for a homeschool book club a couple of years ago and which she says helped her in initially understanding systemic racism.
I am also staying very close to the wisdom of my teacher, Christina Sell, and am attempting to follow her lead on most things.
To help facilitate my own learning and education along with that of the Practice Wellness Community, Rachel Peters and I are holding virtual open circles centered around discussion of My Grandmother’s Hands.
In an effort to keep donations moving, I am donating at least half of all tuitions from the Saturday LIVE Group Practice for the month of June. Information for that can be found here.
This is where I am at right now. And just to be clear, I am a student in all of this. I am imperfect and also slow to learn. But if I believe in anything right now and always it is in the importance of taking a stand against injustice and inequality in all of its forms which includes the insidious ways it has roots within my own unconscious. I am here for the work, even when my voice is quiet. I am learning. I am stumbling. I am getting up again. I am becoming.