Unmuted and Amplifying

What a heart-bursting and heartbreaking week of #amplifymelanatedvoices

Beyond the personal work I am doing within myself and family, I commit to sharing at least 2 posts a week from here on out, that focus on stories centered around racial justice, and the Black and POC communities. Here's to the future, and the powerful reflection in this repost from Deena Knight on Instagram @candidlydeena

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Martha's Vineyard

The E I G H T H day. Today is Monday, June 8th and many of you have taken the last 7 days to “mute + listen.” In many cases that meant an “Instagram vacation.” As I have already said, I think the people that did that missed an opportunity. Maybe you really did log off to read books, and if so I would challenge you to share the things you learned now that you are back. And if you were logged off of IG for the week, let me catch you up. We had church. We gathered publicly to declare that the old days were done. There were confessions and apologies and grace and forgiveness and the holding of hands and the spreading of good news. And we regret that you missed it. No this church wasn’t rooted in theology, but it was rooted in Love and “the greatest of these is Love,” (so there’s that).

We didn’t fix all the problems by any means, there is so much serious work yet to be done, as I shared a couple of posts back. But on this 8th day, when many of you have been muted for 7 days and are now returning to this platform to perhaps hopefully find us simmered down and ready to “get back to normal,” I’m letting you know that there is no going back. Those that stayed also worked, listened and lifted their fellow Black creatives. Articles were written. Lists were created and the algorithm was shaken up to reveal so much previously hidden talent. And we loved it.

I’m sure one pervasive question is “where do we go from here?” Perhaps you’re thinking: “I have done my part, but I do have shelved-content to share.” I would just encourage you to unmute AND amplify, because people are listening.

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Conclusion: The fabric of racial justice we have been weaving over the past week is of a strong, new fiber. It's built to last.