When we claim #alllivesmatter but fail to stand up against racism and be fully and wholeheartedly anti-racist… we actually can’t lean in to a world where all lives matter… because ALL lives can’t matter until Black lives matter too.

I’ve seen some people angry that white people are just now speaking out… but if that’s you – I applaud you. Bless you for speaking out. I don’t care if you’ve never spoken out before. You are now…. and that means there’s hope for change.

I’ve seen people worried about speaking out because they’re white… because they’re not perfect… or they don’t know what to say… and if that’s you – I encourage you to speak out anyway… to stand up anyway. Black people and POC don’t need you to be perfect, they don’t need you to say the ‘right’ thing, they need you to be an ally, to be a voice, to be open to learning…. and if you are, that means there’s hope for change.

I’ve seen people unfollow and unfriend me…. and I’m actually not quite sure why, because I’ve ALWAYS been open about being anti-hate and anti-racist…. and while it doesn’t bother me personally, I am heartbroken that the unfollows and the unfriending could signify that there may not be hope for change for everyone.

Human beings come in every color imaginable #thankyouLord — and we love them regardless. That shouldn’t even be in question.

I’m white…. and I’m privileged…. and if your argument is that you’ve had a hard life and grew up poor so you’re not privileged. I challenge you to really learn and understand what being privileged actually means. It doesn’t mean that you didn’t have a hard life – I know being privileged doesn’t take away from my own hardships…. but being privileged does mean that my life wasn’t made harder by the color of my skin.

I’ve seen a few people sharing this analogy and I thought it was so powerful…. so I wanted to share…

to paraphrase:

If you had four children and one of those children came to you and said…. ‘I’m hurting and I feel alone… I’m scared and I feel helpless’ — would you respond by saying… “All of my children matter.” and send them on his/her way…. 

No… in fact, I can imagine that you would lean in and listen… I can imagine that you would try to wholeheartedly understand what your child needed and then you’d do everything you could to help him/her, because s/he DOES matter.

We can’t – we shouldn’t – look at our brothers and sisters of color and yell at them screaming…. ALL LIVES MATTER and walk away. We need to lean in and truly understand what they need.

We need to raise our children to love each other – regardless of skin color and differences. We need to teach them how to embrace diversity and to SEE color… not avoid it.

We are not born with hate in our hearts… hate is taught.

Our tongue has the power to build up others or tear them down… Ask yourself, what language are you speaking?

Hate or Love?

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