Wow I haven’t written one word this month, and we’re already at the end. Oops! It has been a crazy few weeks mentally. The world as we know it isn’t so great at the moment especially for the black community, so here I am – ready to “face” the real world again.

Many weeks ago, we were all triggered by Amy Cooper leveraging her white privilege and George Floyd’s disheartening murder. I’m not sure how many times I’ve watched that video only to be angrier each time. Was it the white cop whose knee stripped the life of a man who should be with us today? Or was it the bystander cops who saw what was happening + proceeded to turn away in acceptance and solidarity of their colleague?

I haven’t found the words to say bc this isn’t anything new. This stuff is HEAVY, and for many of us, we are able to “turn it off” and find comfort and joy in doing the things we love, but for the black community, this is literally the life they know.

We say slavery ended years ago, but the truth is our systems continue to hold them hostage to this very day.

Black people continue to be oppressed in ways larger than the publicized police brutality. There’s institutional racism, where we all know schools within communities of color have less resources than their white counterparts, and there’s environmental racism, where food deserts are prevalent – to name just a couple.

I’m lucky enough to be working at an institution where racial equity (RE) drives a lot of our work and where these RE conversations are routinely scheduled on our calendar bc we all know combatting systemic racism is ongoing work. It takes consistency + effort to make a slight dent in our current policies.

For those who might not know, I work for the MA Department of Public Health. Prior to working there, I interned my last semester of grad school where I was asked to do a lit review on historical policies that continue to shape the country we live in today. I proceeded to read “The Color of Law,” where I was introduced to the outrageous concepts of redlining, how cities determine where transportation lines pass through, where parks and pools are built, which communities “deserve” nice sidewalks, etc.

Even though my internship was in a different program than the one I’m currently working in, these inequities remain the same everywhere!

I admit even as a POC, my experiences do not mirror that of my black friend/colleague/neighbor. I can easily walk to the store and back without having to hold my breath, should I see a cop anywhere.

Maybe it’s the fact that we’re all in quarantine that I’m sitting here reflecting on how we continue to fail our black brothers and sisters. Some of us may not be racist, but we haven’t been anti-racist either… but that changes today.

#BLM isn’t just a social media trend or another theme for spirit week. While black people have been suffering disproportionately this whole time, I am glad we are finally waking up to use our voice, no matter how uncomfortable we may all be feeling.

We shouldn’t have to wait for another black person to be killed in order to continue these conversations or to continue disseminating resources on and off social media.

I’m a woman of color, but I also recognize I will never understand what it’s like to be black. To my black friends, I hear you, I see you, and I stand with you. I will fight to continue this work, to have those difficult conversations with close friends/family, to continuously donate to organizations putting in the work, and to support black-owned causes/businesses.

This is truly an unorganized post, but this is where my head is at right now. I also wanted to share a few black podcasts I’ve been listening to:

• Straight Up with Trent Shelton – he’s one of my fav podcasters for self-development. This particular episode got to me as he discussed George Floyd and how we cannot keep making excuses for injustice.
• Clever Girls Know – I talked about CGK all the time bc I absolutely love the CGK team. I was first drawn to them months ago when I was looking for ways to improve my financial literacy. As a POC, we don’t always talk about finance, so we’re left scrambling on our own as adults while everyone else has already starting investing and all. Aside from their podcasts, they also have courses (which I describe more here) and from now on, they will all be FREE!
• Go Off, Sis – This is one of Refinery29’s sub-brands. The girls have amazing energy as they unapologetically confront the hard truths on being a black woman in America and amplify black voices in the community.
• H.E.R. Space – Healing, Empowerment, Resilience. If you’re a black woman or WOC looking for some inspo, I highly recommend this podcast full of uplifting conversations.

In addition to podcasts, I also want to share other resources for the Black community. As we all know, racial wealth gaps exist and closing them is not a simple fix especially when thinking about generations’ worth of impact. Here are some more articles to help shed light on:

1. The impact that the financial literacy gap has on the Black community
2. Socioeconomic and cultural barriers (systems come into play here!!)
3. The impactful role of having Black financial advisors

& of course: financial literacy for women!

For all of my fellow non-black POCs + white friends, I encourage us to actively listen + be empathetic. Stop seeing our black friends as resources to explore how we can be and do better. They have suffered long enough in silence when the rest of the country wasn’t listening. They do not need to be giving us homework that we ourselves are responsible for, and they do not need to applaud us for finally waking up and deciding to be co-conspirators over being allies.

It is long overdue.

In solidarity,