How do we get out of the spiral of American society where Black women and other WOC; Black people and other POC have to do unpaid civic labor to get a fraction of the benefits of citizenship and earn a fraction of the revenue that white Americans do?

I try to explain to my white friends that while they are building wealth and securing their futures, we are re-litigating our human rights day by day.

My experience in journalism alone has included being racially discriminated against, bullied, sexually harassed -- and deprived of income, and having had a grant specifically directed to me being redirected to a white team. All of which I have proof of.

Yet I've continued in my field not because I'm a saint or a martyr, but because that's what I do to do my part as an American. My mother was an early Peace Corps volunteer, a journalist, and a teacher. My grandmother was an employment whistleblower. All of us paid a price.

My goal is to help create a world where no one pays the price for doing the right thing; no one has to constantly fight for the rights others take for granted; and where all people can secure resources commensurate with their efforts.

Obviously, I won't see that in my lifetime. It likely will never happen. But it's a goal that keeps me focused. I want to know that my white colleagues, friends, and business associates understand the headwinds Black women and others face and do their part for a just society.

My dearest white friends definitely do. Some of them take great professional and personal risks to support workplace equity and societal equity. They understand that they cannot coast on the unpaid civic labor of Black people and POC, because they have skin in the game too.

Do you have skin in the game? Or are you coasting? You know what the saying says -- the only direction you can coast is downhill. If we don't want America to coast downhill, all of us better put a shoulder to the boulder.