Hello, all. I hope this finds you safe and well.

I just have one message for my white readers today. After 3 days and nights of protests here in Richmond (and across the country) in response to the brutal murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, and after decades of injustice, inequity, and systematic racism, and centuries of deeply ingrained white supremacy in our country:
 

 

Ending your silence comes in many forms - refusing to look away, learning, speaking up & out, taking action.

And while there are many external actions that we can and need to take as white people (see below for a few ways to start), I want to point you towards the inner work that is necessary to SEE & UNDERSTAND & WORK WITH your unconscious, conditioned ways of seeing the world, yourself, & those of other races. 

We will not be able to support & create urgently needed change UNTIL:

... Until we see that not ONE single white person is free of racist conditioning

... Until we are willing to take a long and hard look at the thoughts/ reactions/judgements that arise inside of us even in the simplest of moments/interactions 

... Until we are willing to sit down & be quiet & not move away from the tremendous pain & heartbreak of not just our history but our CURRENT reality

... Until we are willing to drop our defensiveness & our resistance to hearing what needs to be expressed by POC, to seeing the TRUTH of race & racism in our country

... Until we are willing to NOT BE RIGHT

... Until we are willing to stop putting our feelings at the forefront of the conversation or above the feelings of someone else who is living the experiences that we are so shocked & saddened by

... Until we are willing to see another human as just that - a life with equal inherent value as our own

... Until we are willing to give up all that we have gained as a result of hundreds & hundreds of years of laws & institutions built upon racist ideology

... Until we are willing to do this work not when it's convenient or we have the time or we are feeling like it or we are motivated to BUT ALL OF THE TIME because picking it up & putting it down in & of itself is white privilege 

There is no shame in not knowing what you don't yet know. But there is shame in choosing not to see, choosing not to learn, choosing not to act, choosing not to alter the ease & relative calm of your own experience for the sake of another.

I am here for you. Ask me where to start. Ask me your questions. Tell me what you're afraid of. I will not judge you wherever you are in your process. I will be grateful that you are in a process. I will love you for being curious and courageous. I will love you in the pain and mess of it. But, mostly, I will love you because you are now part of the movement forward. 

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In the coming days, I will be coordinating ways to start (or continue) uncovering and working with unconscious bias and conditioning. Utilizing my expertise as a coach, facilitator, and teacher as well as with my own work in anti-racist inner work, I feel that it is my purpose at this time to support as many white people as possible in this critical step in urgently needed change. If you are interested in learning more, please let me know. And please, please forward this email to your friends and family members who need to hear this message.

  Be safe. Stay well. Stay Conscious. And, please wear a mask.


, Ellie