skagitbasam

It has taken me a while to write with regards to the national public uprising and dialog around systemic racism that has been going on.  The silence is mainly because I have been processing my own thoughts around these complex and multi-faceted issues.  In all candor, I haven’t known what to say or how to express the many emotions I have been feeling.

I am now at a point where I feel ready to talk with others on this topic. But, I have no answers, only questions, with two main thoughts have been bubbling through my mind

The first is that it is my opinion that we have to put the conversation around racial equity and justice into historical perspective.  As the image below shows,  the period in which Black Americans lived in servitude and experienced legal segregation dwarfs the time that they have not.

Given this, don’t we have a social justice obligation to support our fellow citizens with equity-related initiatives so that the opportunity for equality can become a reality?  

The second is that if we believe that equity means meeting and supporting people where they are at, shouldn’t we be respecting people’s decisions to participate in this movement in whatever way they each see fit? The image below shows the different ways that people are acting on the imperative for social justice and it spoke to me.

It is my hope that however you choose to participate, you do so from a way that feels right for you and that recognizes the critical need for every person in society to have the support they need and deserve for success. This tenet is the foundational platform for the Skagit Valley College Bachelor in Management program whose participants give me cause for hope.