My strategy was to avoid the topic. 

I considered myself “not racist,” but when issues of racism came up, I’d demur, “it’s not my area of expertise.” In other words: I didn’t want to do that work. When I’d see the videos of brutality against BIPOC community members, I’d scroll quickly past. I didn’t want to think those thoughts. I didn’t want to feel those feelings.

Yet in the last six months, something’s begun to change for me. I want to share my thanks for the gifts of learning and support I’ve received in this space — and to attempt to share three of those gifts back out. 

Perhaps the sense of helplessness I experienced with the pandemic helped me shift from my position of apathy. The grief and uncertainty of March-June 2020 left me raw. So, with the Black Lives Matter uprising in June of 2020, I’ll be honest and say that my first reaction was: “Really? This too… now?” Then I remembered…