Education for a Better Future

"If we wait for a way to say it exactly right, we'll never say anything at all". I think or at least I hope that in the wake of George Floyd's death we are realizing how much our justice system favors white people. It shouldn't take death to wake people up to the injustice of our "justice" system. I grew up Privileged with a capital P. I came from an upper middle class family that made sure I had the best of everything. It never occurred to me that growing up white was a privilege in and of itself. It doesn't mean there weren't things in my life that weren't hard, it was just never hard because of my skin color. When I learned about slavery and racism in school, it seemed like something that happened centuries ago, a complete thing of the past. I was sorely mistaken, ignorance will get you. My parents did a really good job at submerging me in other cultures by exposing me to people, places, and traditions that were different than my own. I, like many other people thought "I don't see color" was the ultimate goal. What I'm now learning is that when we say we don't see color, we mute out the traumatic experiences black men and women face everyday due to being black in a society that is set up to favor white people. Like many other people, in the wake of this I realized how ignorant I am about the subject of racism because it is still a very real and prevalent issue in society. It's more important now than ever that we educate ourselves about the system, about the injustice black people face. How did we get here and how can we fix it? It's important that we listen and we listen to understand their pain, not just to reply. Jesus is the most important thing in my life so I thought the best place to start was with my favorite preacher, Steven Furtick. I listened to a conversation about race this morning between Pastor Steven who is white and John Gray who is black called Become The Bridge and I highly recommend everyone listen to that. They touch on the very common belief that "just because I haven't experienced it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist". I'm 100 percent guilty of that. We don't like to talk about race, its uncomfortable and we prefer comfort, we prefer ignorance. We don't like to stretch ourselves to understand anyone else's experiences because it's hard and and we don't love to do hard things. In this conversation, John says something that I'm now learning is a common thought for black people "our blackness is weaponized before anyone knows the content of our character". He says we aren't asking for special treatment, we are asking for EQUAL treatment. We have to erase everything we thought we knew about racism and make room for new learning. We need to have more empathy, more understanding, more compassion and much more love. If we could collectively improve on all of these things, we would see a lot more humanity. We can all do better, we can all show up better, we can all be more educated. We can all be better Ally's. Start at home. What are you reading? What are you watching? What are you teaching your kids? What are you talking about at home? Who do you surround yourself with? Nelson Mandela says "education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world". Here are some resources I've found helpful: Books to read: White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo Born A Crime by Trevor Noah Between The World and Me by Ta Nehisi Coates How We Fight For our Lives by Saeed Jones I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Redefining Realness by Janet Mock Note: You can search @Mahoganybooks on Instagram to purchase most of these books and more as this is a black owned company and they ship nationwide! Shows/Movies to Watch: 13th- Netflix When They See Us- Netflix If Beale Street Could Talk- Amazon I Am Not Your Negro- Amazon Podcasts: Still Processing- Jenna Worthham and Wesley Morris Pod Save the People- DeRay Mckesson Skincare/Make up companies owned by black women Golde Beauty- Their Lucuma bright face mask is acne safe Get Hyper Skin- Their clearing vitamin C serum is acne safe Pholk Beauty- Their H2oil is acne safe Anita Grant- Their alove vera gel is acne safe Dehiya Beauty- Their clarifying mist is acne safe