Read on Twitter
Today I’m 30 years old. Although I've learned a lot over the past 30 years, today I want to highlight some of the things I've learned over the past 30+ days. I take full responsibility for the fact that I've just recently chosen to completely open my eyes to things like +
+ systemic racism & racial injustice (social, economic, political), police brutality, police reform, anti-Blackness, white supremacy, white privilege (to name a few), and that it took the death of another Black person at the hands of police to do so.
I'm not proud of that, but I also know it's not about me or my feelings. It’s about learning and putting what I’m learning to use. It’s about throwing “but I’m not racist” out of my vocabulary and being actively anti-racist. +
I've been sharing tons of posts to my stories on insta for the past 30+ days on ways we can all help raise up the voices of the Black community and help eventually end racism in every form (some mentioned above). +
I've learned this will take time, as Black people (whether they're an activist or not) have been fighting this fight for hundreds of years.
While I firmly believe it's important to hold conversations and share what I've learned with those closest to me and even those I don’t know, it's also important to directly share the Black voices I've been learning from since the end of May. +
+ From this point forward for every “normal” photo I post, I’m going to share in the caption someone that I’m learning from.
So here are some activists, podcasts, organizations, and people in general that have helped me look inward over the past couple of months - I highly recommend going to their pages, following, really dive deep into what they’re teaching and saying
- and then sharing their voices and what you’re learning to friends and family!
@eji_org - The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
@rachel.cargle - Rachel Cargle is an activist whose work is "rooted in providing intellectual discourse, tools, and resources that explore the intersection of race and womanhood." Rachel's "Saturday School" lessons are extremely informative and have taught me how problematic +
+ white people can be with their ignorant rhetoric rooted in racism, tone policing, and much more. She has a FREE #DoTheWork 30 Day Course at the link in her bio that is a call to action for those who seek to be allies to Black women. I’m starting on Monday! Join me!
@laylafsaad - Layla F. Saad is “a New York Times bestselling author, anti-racism educator, international speaker, and podcast host on the topics of race, identity, leadership, personal transformation and social change." Layla's book Me And White Supremacy really helped +
open my eyes to things I didn't even realize I was doing or things I'd said or thought in the past - and why they were rooted in white privilege and supremacy. It’s days instead of full chapters, and has journal prompts at the end of each day to ignite you to really look inward.
@blairimani - Blair Imani is a "a critically-acclaimed historian, outspoken advocate and activist, and dynamic public speaker." Blair’s Ted Talk "Queer & Muslim: nothing to reconcile" is a really informative talk about being Black, bisexual, and Muslim and how the history +
+ of Islam and the LGBTQ+ community has changed over time, and how the "ideas of puritanical values, of interpreting the Quran to be oppressive - did not come from Islam. Those came from Western colonizers".
The Higher Learning podcast hosted by @vanlathan & @therachlindsay - "highlights black culture, politics, and sports." The first episode I listened to was “The Importance of Nationwide Protests Over George Floyd" +
+ and every episode since then (and the one before) have taught me a lot about the experiences of Black men and women in America. Rachel & Van also talk a lot about figures and moments in history that I know I was not taught about fully growing up and in school.