Honoring Juneteenth

This Saturday, June 19th, was a historic Juneteenth. It was the first one that marked the declaration of the day as a federal holiday. Long overdue but a step in the right direction to honor this historic day. This year, it fell on a day I was ‘disconnected'‘. Every 15 days (at a minimum), I turn off my phone and try to limit any screen usage. It’s been a ritual that originated from the Pandemic but the joy I’m able to elicit from it is truly incomparable. I leave feeling refreshed, recharged, and rejuvenated. It’s often during these days when I have the most fun (spontaneous activities), am the most intentional with what I’m doing (no distractions) and generate the most creativity

Normally, I would have shared my resources or activities on social media but since my phone was off this day, I was silent. Normally, I’m one who doesn’t believe that silence is an option on social media for those you use it. If we’re able to post about our lives, then we should feel empowered to speak and serve as allies for equality. The controversy behind social media advocacy remains but I, being the eternal optimist I am, like to think that there are good humans out there who are interested in enacting positive sustainable change like myself. It’s not and should not be a phase that is just prevalent during the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s hard because it’s not at all what we see on social media. Now that Pandemic restrictions have eased up, it seems that the world is on its path towards a pre-pandemic lifestyle. I hold close to my heart the only thing that I can control – my actions and behavior. It’s also the only thing I should feel responsible to control. For me and my social media relationship, this means transparency and authenticity. I don’t want what I post to be just pictures of my travels or snippets of my social interactions. This is probably less than half of what my actual life consists of and maybe a fourth of what’s actually consuming my mind. This blog has given me the authentic outlet to be able to own and share my story and have the courage to stand alone in my thoughts as I’ve learned from Brene Brown in Braving the Wilderness.

A challenge that I’ve grappled with is how it’s just so easy for some to not care. When it comes to most things, more power to them for having the ability to compartmentalize. However, after this year and the horrors we have all had our eyes open to, haven’t we had enough? The inequities that are being experienced by the marginalized communities will not be balanced without the work put in by the privileged who are in power now. The work that this requires doesn’t start or stop at education, it’s about reflecting to be able to determine your understanding and where you want to be able to create the most impact. This is exactly what I did. I reflected on every book I’ve read, key podcasts that left a mark on my mind, and wrote down my own personal vision of what equality looked like on organizations because that’s the professional direction I’m heading in. This was really beneficial for my own journey as an anti-racist ally because as I reflected, I realized how much I need to use this platform to share my thoughts and actions. There is still some fear that I experience in writing this post and I’m certain that it will continue as I share the personal reflections and change lists I generated. At the end of the day, I’m a human being and that will come with things that are incorrect or wrong but I hope that for anyone who does read this and has feedback or feels a certain type of way towards my writings, they feel empowered to share with me because without having these constructive conversations we won’t be able to grow from a social wellbeing perspective. None of this will happen overnight but I want to make sure that acting in my values, I allow this to be at the forefront of my mind.

 So I hope that if there’s a takeaway to this, it’s to reflect on your own time on what change means to you and how you envision it playing out in our world.