In just over 24 hours, the US will watch the swearing in of a new President. We will all do so on our TV's and computers due to a global pandemic that continues to threaten and kill thousands of Americans everyday as well as the fact that our nation's capital is in lockdown due to the attempted insurrection by white supremacists that happened two weeks ago. Our country is at a crossroads... which way will we go?
Whiteness loves to breathe a sigh of relief, and slip back into our comfortable oblivion that only serves as violence to Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. I see many gifts over the past 4 years that I don't want to lose sight of during the transition tomorrow. Through our 45th President, whiteness was handed the gift of awareness of our violence through silence, whispers, and fists; we received the gift of knowing of the importance of empathy and compassion within our leaders which, because of our place of privilege, has not been obvious to us as it has to others; another gift provided was the list of weaknesses within our system of government that so deeply relied on the decency of our leaders to not be felt by white people. I pray we not lose sight of any of these gifts. I pray we have the courage to continue the deep look in the mirror as the first step to change. I pray we honor the memories of those lost with each step we take toward equity.