Dear friends,
In this time of Easter and Passover, I want to wish you all a restorative and joyful holiday. Thank you for continuing to read these newsletters and be in community with me.
Many of you have been “practicing” equity work alongside me. You’ve made equity work an intentional, embodied practice for some time. With the outbreak of COVID-19, I am clear that practice time is simply up. Game on. We must create the new future we have aspired to, dreamed about, and envisioned for so long.
First, I must admit that I believe Americans (and perhaps the world) have been in a pandemic since 2016. Some of us have lived the pandemic life to varying degrees of toxicity for the majority of our existence. The second thing that feels important to share is that the recurring thing I’ve heard recently has been, “We will get back to the inclusion and equity work later...” I’m not surprised that some organizations want to put off equity and inclusion work. In times of stress and trauma, brain science has taught us that it is only natural to go back to what we know: habits, norms, etc. But most often what we know is derived from white supremacy and heteropatriarchy. The wise response to the stress and trauma that we are collectively experiencing is not “we will get back to this very important work later,” but to ask:
“Acting upon the lessons we’ve learned through coaching or organizing or both... how do we move into the ‘urgency of now’ while taking care (as in, caring for and listening deeply to) those who have been most severely impacted by COVID-19 already or will be in the near future?”
“How do we also take good care of ourselves, our families, our communities, and our organizations?
“How do we live our values?”
Read the rest of my newsletter here and sign up for my “Love in Action, Equity in Practice” newsletter here if you’d like to receive my newsletter moving forward.
In deep gratitude,
Gwendolyn