I Support Black Lives Matter

When Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and all the other black lives before them were taken, I felt saddened and horrified each time, but was unsure what I could do to help. When George Floyd was tragically added to the list, my first reaction, I’m sorry to admit, was to detach. I (wrongly) thought it’d be a gift to my already-stressed mental health to turn off social media and not think about what was happening.

But my brain kept coming back to it anyway, hungry to be useful in some way. So my next idea was to return to social media, but keep my posts focused on the usual topics within my comfort zone. I (again, wrongly) thought that it would be a helpful, positive gesture to balance out all the “negativity” of the posts calling for justice. I’m embarrassed to admit that now, because I see how terribly ignorant and unfair it was. Asking for justice and equal rights is not negative. This isn’t a political movement, it’s a social one. A human rights one. I get that now.

I finally had the lightbulb moment where I asked myself – WHO am I doing this for? White people might feel more comfortable with me avoiding the topic, but black people certainly don’t! They’re not going to feel supported by me if all I do is share generic posts about kindness. I want ALL of my clients and followers to feel like I care about them. So I’ve finally started doing more. And I will hold myself accountable to keep taking action, even after justice is served for George Floyd.

I’m truly sorry it took this long for me to move.