“As my practice deepened, it ignited many things, including my path of activism. An activist is simply a person who sees a need for large scale change and begins personal action to move toward it.” ~ Nikki Myers
How easy is it to stay asleep? In these times there is such an opportunity to make an inroad on the problems we've created which separate and marginalize people, or worse, harm our citizens and our way of life: institutionalized and systemic racism, poverty, the school to prison pipeline, environmental destruction, domestic violence.
As a white middle class woman, heterosexual, able-bodied, educated, I recognize that I have enjoyed a sense of privilege in this lifetime. I know I can walk into just about any store and be accepted as just another customer. I know if I am stopped in traffic by the police, there is a pretty good chance it was for a valid reason and I will not be shot and killed by that officer. If I fill out a job application I can assume my qualifications will be given fair consideration because I have a name typically assigned to a caucasian woman. And, I know that as I walk down the street I won’t be singled out or attacked for who I am or who I love. This is not the case for many people, and these are only a few examples of privilege.
And as a citizen of this planet first and a lover of nature (it’s where I find Spirit most readily, in all things), I see that it’s important that our natural resources are preserved for not only ourselves but for future generations. The privilege I’ve had to swim in the oceans and rivers, drink our water, and breathe our air is one that all people present and future deserve.
So, as a start, I recently signed up to either join, support, or learn more about the following national organizations:
The Southern Poverty Law Center fighting hate, teaching tolerance, seeking justice
The American Civil Liberties Union defending and preserving individual rights and liberties
The National Resources Defense Council creating solutions for lasting environmental change, protecting natural resources
And locally, the following organizations have my interest and support at present:
Business Coalition for Justice as a member of the Steering Committee for this new organization, I'm thrilled to work toward solutions addressing racial disparity in business law
The Virginia Anti Violence Project working to address and end violence, focusing on the LGBTQ community
Showing Up For Racial Justice (RVA chapter, formed July 2016) organizing white people for racial justice
