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Hate sucks.

Is there any other way to put it? It seems this year America has been filled with it.

And it would be incredibly naïve and hurtful towards the marginalized groups and individuals receiving the direct effects of racially motivated hate to believe it has all just started this year.

Disappointingly, it has not.

As a privileged and educated white woman I have been recently sleeping on my job as an ally. The pandemic has been hard on my emotional wellbeing, but I’ve still experienced safety and good health. I’ve had the security of knowing even if I were to get sick, I’d have a net to catch me.

A community to catch me.

Policies to catch me.

Not all are that lucky, which has been made blatantly obvious while scrambling as a country through this pandemic over the last 12 months. 

I’m also quite fortunate for the experiences I’ve had being immersed in other cultures. For the short-term truth I’ve held of living as a minority abroad. For the moments of fumbling through new territory and languages without confidence or local literacy. I’m grateful for these opportunities as they changed my heart, opened my eyes, and grew a tree of empathy that was once a mere seedling in my body.

I now sit back in my home country with a shift in perspective and a strong pounding in my head crying,

“Why?!”

Why is it so hard for humans to see other humans for what they are.

How does hatred of difference dig so far into a person’s soul that it assumes action in the form of violence, terrorism, discrimination, and death? How do we teach inclusion, the beauty of diversity, and radical empathy?

For some, I don’t believe a trip abroad would not be enough.

For a heart that is already cold, a warming starts to feel impossible. But we can’t let that stop the good work from continuing. It was never meant to be easy.

Cultural competency education is ESSENTIAL towards making the world a better place.

Read that again. 

With a shift in our personal and societal cultural lenses comes a better understanding and appreciation of the differences that exist all around us.

I am committed to a life of curiosity, learning, loving, and inclusion.

Will you commit with me?

My vision for the world is one of harmony. We’re behind in this work, so put your shoes on and let’s go.