Since the murder of George Floyd and the reaction to it I have been reminded of the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr;
A riot is the language of the unheard.
If this is true, and I think it is, then I want to start listening and I invite you to listen with me.
To that end, I want to invite you to start an ongoing
Sacred Conversation on Race
and to willingly enter into the particular aspect of the conversation that focuses attention on White Privilege in its manifestations and impact.
I do not promise that this will be easy to discuss nor do I claim to be an expert but we have to start somewhere. If we do this right it will challenge basic assumptions about race that help white communities maintain a system of privilege that, while prevalent, often goes unnoticed by even the best-intentioned of white advocates for justice. Nonetheless, the work of sacred listening and conversation has the potential to deepen our awareness of how privilege is made manifest, and the commensurate work of unmasking and dismantling that privilege, is among the most important work we white leaders can commit to.
If you are like me, the first time I heard the term
White Privilege
I became angry and defensive. As of late, I have been able to listen to and understand my brothers and sisters whose skin is a different color than mine. I have much more to learn. Would you join me?
Sadly, we will have to start this conversation and our listening via Zoom as our building remains closed - but I don’t want to wait. At first I thought we would keep this to a 6 week program but I do not want to limit our sacred conversation. This conversation is likely to take on different forms but I doubt it will ever be complete. Join me Monday nights from 7:00 to 8:30 beginning July 13
th
. Please don’t feel that you have to commit to each and every session. Participate as you can.
Are you in? Please be open to this challenge. Promise to come to these conversations with open hearts and open minds. Commit to new insights that will lead to new alignments. Let me know so I can be sure to send you a Zoom invite.
