Many of us (me) are recognizing Juneneeth for the first time today. It seems so obvious that we should acknowledge the day everyone is America was made free (I’m certainly looking at July 4th in a different light), and is just another example to the highly edited, white version of history in our (at least my) education. But I’ve been out of the public school system for ten years, sometimes that shit is just on me.
I’m trying to honor today by continuing to educate myself and support Black businesses only today (I have my food from a Black-owned restaurant on the way). And while I’m at it reach out again to the Kentucky AG demanding he charges Breonna Taylor’s killers with murder. (One of three officers was fired today, which has been my repeated outreach demand to the Louisville mayor, just as a reminder that individually it doesn’t seem like much to call or email when you’re asked but the collective power here is real and also that this is far from over).
While we weren’t able to close down my workplace today (we’ll work on it), I decided to lead a lunch and learn with a viewing of Mellody Hobson’s Ted Talk: Color Blind or Color Brave?
We had fifteen-ish employees show up, including the company president, and I was gratified to see the engagement and vulnerability we had in the brief discussion afterwards. The culmination is that we need to be more intentional about how we foster a diverse and inclusive culture.
We’re going to keep having these conversations, but we’re also going to act. It high time.
With Love,
Natalie