With a heavy heart, I seat down to write this post. The events that have happened in the last week or so, being amplified by those that took place on the evening of Monday, June 1st, 2020 are deeply concerning and painful, which made me write this post.

While many of us will not fully understand what Black people go through every single day, I pledge to educate myself and support them any way I can. After all, I firmly believe that the color of one’s skin mustn’t and can’t be the determining factor when it comes to the opportunities they get, or how she/he/they are treated.

In the following days and weeks, I want to read more about racial bias as part of my pledge to be anti-racist.

These last few days, I have been reading articles and statements, and watching videos from Black people, which helped me understand and opened my eyes about some of their pain-points, as well as made me see my “white privilege”. I didn’t like that term, and frankly, I still don’t, but its existence is a hard-truth, whether I like it or not.

As a starting point in our education about race, and understanding it better, I ask that you please read these two articles for a thorough explanation and examples, as well as action points to put your white privilege to good use:

1. “What Is White Privilege, Really?” from Tolerance.org

2. “Why it's important to think about privilege - and why it's hard”, from GlobalCitizen.org.

What summarizes this term for me is a quote I’ve come around: “Having white privilege doesn’t mean that your life hasn’t been hard. It means that the color of your skin hasn’t been the reason for your hardships”. Note: I can’t find who it belongs to, so if you know, please share.

I also encourage you to visit BlackLivesMatter.com to understand more about this movement and its important work.

While I have many other thoughts in my head right now, I really want to leave you with the one below. I really hope you take the time to think about it…

I urge you to take a moment and look around you. I urge you to educate yourself like I will from now on on the issues of race in this country, as well as the world. I urge you to actually set your beliefs aside and ask yourself if this is what you want to live with, if you’re OK with how those around you are treated. I urge you to think if this is how you want your leaders to treat people, and “present” themselves. I urge you to actually listen to how they talk and the words they use, watch them speak, and watch their actions. If you’re OK with that, you have no soul, no morals, and values, and I don’t want you here. #enoughisenough #dobetter #bebetter #blackouttuesday #blackoutday2020

P.S. Please consider donating to these organizations to help the Black Communities: ACLU and BlackLivesMatter. Thank you.

Stay safe.

Em