We Must Talk About Race
I have been writing a lot recently about people-led movements for change. This phenomenon has never been so evident as in recent weeks.
Following the tragic and unlawful killing by a police officer of 46-year-old African American man George Floyd in Minnesota, there has been an immediate international response by not just black communities but people worldwide. People like you and me. People of all colours, cultures, religions, ages and socio-economic demographics have been speaking out, standing up and taking to the streets - despite current health risks - and protesting the systemic racism that has dogged our institutions. At best it has been ignored and at worst accepted as part of our culture for too long.
There is so much I can say about the institutional and systemic racism I have witnessed and tried for the last 25 years to fight and advocate against. We all have a personal responsibility to speak out and stand up against racism and there is a desperate need for humanity and values based leadership in our world.
There is a desperate need to commit fully to reconciliation through truth-telling, self-determination and greater respect for people of colour, indigenous people and all those marginalised, voiceless and disenfranchised. But perhaps now more than for a long time this hashtag #blacklivesmatter says it all. And, it always will until every human, institution, organisation, policy, every law, and every government commits to black lives mattering. Not more than, but equal to. That is all that is sought.
So with this in mind, as well as the fact that we are living at a unique period in time, where we stand at the precipice of such global change, I would urge you to ask yourself what really matters to you. What moves you to speak out, stand up, and be counted? When you’ve answered that question, the next question is - what’s stopping you?
It only takes one person to start a ripple effect of change. If we all commit to creating just one ripple, we will together make waves.
That is what people led movements of change are all about. And that is the beautiful revolution we are witnessing around the world today. People standing up against institutions, authorities, and governments, holding them to account and demanding better, demanding different, being the change.
