This weekend was heavy. My heart physically felt heavy. And, truthfully, I put off how I was feeling about the horrific events in our country last week until the weekend and then I could no longer avoid and instead dove head first into getting uncomfortable. I had a different post planned for today but I couldn’t in good conscience post it before addressing this.

I am not a person who hates but rather lives with love and kindness in my heart. This weekend, I truly began to sit with my discomfort though. Discomfort in not being able to comprehend how these murders, these injustices and these acts of violence can happen to innocent human beings. Discomfort with my lack of education in understanding why racism and injustice continues to prevail. Discomfort in not knowing where to start to help or do my part.

So the past seven days I did a lot of listening. I did a lot of reading. I had a lot of tough, moving conversations with those in my life. I followed educators and advocates on Instagram, I read articles to help inform and I researched causes to donate to (Black Lives Matter, Minnesota Freedom Fund, The Bail Project and The ACLU). I gave a lot of conscious, purposeful thought to my privilege as a white woman. To the benefits and the continued privileges I am afforded as a result of my skin color.

And I committed to doing better and doing more moving forward. I’m committed to being more actively anti-racist. There is work on my part to be done and I recognize I have a platform to hopefully assist others in doing the hard work, too. Friday’s weekly roundup will have a variety of resources and articles that I am curating for us all.

All of our voices matter in this battle.  I have used my voice on issues that matter before and I want to continue to do so. I will say again what I said in that post:

I believe in human rights. I believe in love. I believe in acceptance. I believe in tolerance. I believe in compassion.

And will add that I believe Black Lives Matter.

Sending a virtual hug to my community and all of you. Thank you for reading + thank you for doing your part in this fight.