Making Behavioral Changes and Fighting White Supremacy

Hello, friends. As per usual, it's been a while. I think about writing often, but have genuine trouble making the time for it. They say to be a writer, you have to write every day. That probably makes sense because then it becomes part of your routine or a habit. But maybe I don't want to be a writer in that sense? Or maybe that's a really patriarchal path to writing? Or maybe that is exactly what I should do and don't really want to do it? I don't know. It is less important to me now to "become a writer" and, as has really always been the case, more important to share my thoughts, knowledge and feelings. So, I am here to share.

Back in June, I hosted a Facebook event for my white friends entitled "Discussing White Supremacy." I had meant it to be the first of many Facebook events, but haven't been back to host another one yet. I really enjoyed it, but it took a lot of time, and it takes a lot of emotional energy for me to present and host events like that. It seems I am becoming more of an introvert as I get older, and the pandemic is only feeding that part of me. Plus, I was taking an End-of-Life Doula Certification class, and working full time, so creating presentations and hosting events while also thinking constantly about death and dying and working 50+ hours a week didn't leave a lot of emotional energy left to do the equity work I wanted to do.

But, that is also an excuse and a glaring example of privilege: I don't experience racism on a daily basis, so I can decide to put this work off while I concentrate on other areas of my life. I can compartmentalize it. But by compartmentalizing, I am actively doing harm to the people of color in my life and allowing white supremacy to continue to thrive. My silence is complicity. 

I refuse to sit back on my privilege, so I have been thinking about ways where I can consistently speak out. It occurred to me that I read a lot, and a lot of what I read is about race in America and how to fight White Supremacy. We are also doing a lot of equity work at my job. So I have resources and tools and knowledge that I can share here.

So that's exactly what I am going to do: I am going to share everything I am learning here with you. I will share articles and books and resources and my thoughts on all of it, and I hope to engage in discussions with you, and I hope to inspire you all to read these things, too, and to think about race in America and how we, as white people, uphold white supremacy. I will share in the hopes that it will change my behavior and yours, so that we can change the systems that uphold oppression and help create a more just country for the BIPOC people in our lives and for everyone.

My love to you all. I hope you are all well, as this pandemic continues to sweep across our country and the world. Stay safe, and I look forward to being in community with you through this work.