Civil Rights Champion Dick Gregory, captured at the Edmund Pettus Bridge 50th Anniversary Commemoration of "Bloody Sunday"
Social justice and advocacy are at my core, from my formative years growing up in Arkansas. Arkansas was where I first heard civil rights icon Dick Gregory (prayers for his family in their time of bereavement), where I was first called a nigger, and where I first realized that "to whom much is given, much is required."
Read MoreA few weeks ago, my friend asked/told (in the way your good black girlfriends can do so expertly😂), "I know you haven't stopped helping kids to take pictures of successful women?!"😳😂
The answer, of course, was no. I am happily doing both, and honestly see my photography work as an extension of and support for my education work.
I was saddened by Trayvon, Eric, Sandra, and all the other named victims we have learned about over the past few years. This past week, however, felt different - more personal, more disappointing, more infuriating, more urgent. I honestly thought through whether what I am doing now, education consulting and photography, is "enough" with all of the real, immediate issues plaguing our country (and abroad).
This week, I have the opportunity to sit in on a training started by a very smart white ally, Dr. Katie Gottfred, called Language for Scholars. Today, the guest speaker was a Mexican American first-gen college graduate who would definitely be considered a #CSuiteChick! The 59 diverse 8th graders participating in the weeklong training are learning to code switch between their home dialects and academic business language. These teens are heading to prestigious college prep programs across the country, and I have no question they will be instrumental in changing the world they will inhabit as leaders in a few short years.
What today reminded me is that we all can be allies in the movement for social justice and equality, doing work that takes many forms -- raising children who see, respect and value difference; teaching preschool or graduate school; law enforcement; capturing and documenting history with words, photographs, video, or art...the list of possible contributions is limitless.
My education calling and photography gift aside 😉, the real question is not what we need to be doing to contribute to the movement, but if we are willing to do so. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could co-create a world with slightly better problems to solve by the time these 8th graders become Generation Now? On weeks like last week, that seems an impossible dream.
Today, I'm reminded that good outweighs bad, hope outweighs despair, and the realization of our hopes and dreams for our country and her children looks a lot like the fruits of the labor (physical and introspective) each of us need to be doing every single day. It will not take a miracle to change things, it only takes you and me.
