We Get Up

Where do we even begin? The chaos that has consumed this country has been heartbreaking and some might even say inevitable. I am not even sure I am even the right person to be writing about it. All I know is that when I stood on the rooftop of our apartment complex and watched protesters be fogged and dispersed, I could hardly stand it. Tears sprang to my eyes as I thought about my nieces and nephews. What if someone were to hurt them, ignore them, treat them differently simply based off the color of their skin? What if someone makes fun of the youngest nephew for having red hair or scabs on his face from allergies, like others did to me from acne and acne scars? I thought of all the cruel things that could happen to them in this world and I could not pull myself together long enough to get the words out. 

I cannot dwell on what might happen to them in the future, but what I can do is help change the conversation about a young black woman or a young mixed Puerto Rican should be treated and what we can do to help protect the next generation. 

While my blog is a largely a space on what it takes to find motivation for your fitness goals, I want to take this time to ask, what can I do to help make this better place for "my babies" to grow up in? (I don't care if they're 14 or 4 months, those nieces and nephews will always be babies to me, lol)

I did find an impressive article about how as "good white people" we can be better allies to people of color. From NPR with Guy Raz Interviewing Travis Jones: an anti-racism educator:

"I mean, think about the people in your life that you care about, and if you've had some awakenings to race in this country, could you share those truths with some people that you think should know them? You know, looking at parenting as an avenue to introduce new narratives to, you know, young people who, if we don't intervene and speak up, are going to be absorbed into the same kind of story of race in America that we were."

My earliest memory of a race issue would be in high school when I was dating a boy that was a different color than myself. We would often go to school games together, sit in the bleachers, hold hands. Typical teenage kid stuff. There was one basketball game in particular that we were at the opposing school, sitting high up in the bleachers were most of the parents were. The older woman, I would say she was in her 50's or more at the time, kept siding eyeing us. At one point she was out right staring at our intertwined fingers. I was so uncomfortable. I am not sure if the boy I was dating at the time really noticed this woman, or what was happening, but the disgust that rolled off of her was evident. Now imagine just being black and experiencing that every day, day after day. That look of disgust and hatred simply for being born. I am ashamed to admit I've looked at other people like that, for different reasons (I hope I have learned from my past mistakes), but people cannot change the color of their skin. We are born the way God created us, in his likeness. All of us.  

The conversation isn't that white people should feel bad about all the things that our some of our ancestors did. The conversation isn't about other lives being more important than others - it's simply and inequitably this, that anyone of color is systemically, unjustly, and unfairly treated differently. What can I do to help change that?

Blessings,

A