The Illumination of Social Justice

Let’s raise the vibration

I have seen the gestures of hope emerge over the past week. No one gets to not be a part of this revolution. You only get to choose a side. When you don’t choose a side, well, the abstention always goes to the status quo.

Returning Home

As I watched the reports of anti-racism gestures with historical skepticism, I knew I could trust a specific space. I knew that I could show up to Illumination with my voice and be heard. Dr Mehmet Yildiz has insisted all along that he was creating a space where everyone could have a voice. No arbitrary hierarchy or fear of rejection.

I have trusted this space before and it had not failed me. I trusted it would not fail me now. First of all, Julia E Hubbel, who I met on Illumination a few months ago, continued to remind me that I was a part of the Illumination family and my voice belonged here and is valued here. I love her for that. Rasheed Hooda checked in with me to encourage me to write somewhere, just keep writing, even if it wasn’t on Illumination.

From the background, I saw voices emerge that also spoke for and to me. I know that I am not alone. Illumination is a space where I can come to be heard. It is a space that will meet me in my silence and support my needs as a writer, no, as a human being. I don’t know how I have touched your lives. But, I know that you have touched mine.

No Cherry Picking

A family that raises together, stays together. We must raise the vibration of this world. We do that with truth, transparency, authenticity, and care. If we care for individuals by severing them from their community, we endanger them, and their community. My mother taught me that at an early age.

At age eight, I was offered a scholarship to continue my K-12 education in a private white school. My mother denied the scholarship on the grounds that white schools that were being forced to integrate were trying to cherry-pick the brightest Black children. Of course, that would deplete the Black schools of necessary peer influence to excel.

I remember my mother commanding me, more times than once, “don’t allow yourself to be used by white America to pretend like racism doesn’t exist.” So, I have always carried the burden of responsibility and sacrifice to live with a double-consciousness life. I have to remain fully aware of white America’s desire to cherry-pick me while finding ways to break down walls from the inside.

I’m Back and I’m Black

I fell in love with the Illumination community because I felt seen and valued. I wasn’t the only Black person with a voice. The diversity of writers, the passion for humanity, encouragement, and acceptance drew me all the way in. My writings about peace work, spirituality, and love were affirmed and reflected back to me. That was no different when I wrote about my anger.

Thank you, Illumination, for receiving me. I will continue to challenge you to see my Black community and understand the brilliant resilience with which we survive each day. Do not offer pity. Instead, ask what you are willing to sacrifice to make the world a better place.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that you don’t have anything to give. That’s a cop-out. Dr Mehmet Yildiz created this platform before COVID and protests. The point is not to find a way to react at this moment, but to look at the way you live your life every day. How do you make safe space for people who feel unsafe and unwanted in this world?

Where do you get your information about the world? Ask yourself what a just world looks like without whiteness at the center. The books you read, movies you watch, the restaurants you frequent, brands you shop, and people you elevate all tell a story about your values. If you don’t like the story your life tells at this moment in time, then change.

Plant seeds

I am tired of people arguing about “the right way to end racism.” Racism exists in all ways. It is irrational and erratic and ubiquitous. It spreads consciously and unconsciously throughout daily life.

Systemic racism is upheld when I’m invisible to the store sales clerk, but the security guard can’t take their eyes off of me. It’s the presumption that everyone in the workplace celebrates Christian holidays, and the expectation that I enjoy attending work social events where nothing there will represent my life. Systemic racism is not even noticing that even Black characters die disproportionately in movies.

Meanwhile, good people want the antidote to racism to be clean, reasonable, linear, sound, and always strategic. We keep selling knives to bring to the gunfight. We have to dismantle the system of white supremacy in any and every way we can until justice runs through our veins.

Meanwhile, good people want the antidote to racism to be clean, reasonable, linear, sound, and always strategic. We keep selling knives to bring to the gunfight.

Most of our approach to dismantling systemic racism will be subtle and not newsworthy. More people will read books by Black authors. At the university, white professors will make reassuring eye contact with Black students without expecting them to be the voice for all Black people.

All of my Black friends have recently witnessed that white people now go out of their way to speak to us on the street. Presumably, that’s their way of letting us know that we are safe in their presence.

Don’t let anyone tell you the small gestures aren’t enough. Every single gesture to dismantle white supremacy matters because every single gesture of racism matters. Even the benchwarmers will get to celebrate. Just make sure you are on the right team.

I saw a white woman ask the organizers of a summit if there would be any Black speakers. Such a small gesture becomes significant when a thousand people ask the same question. Every time you are in a business room with only white people, you should ask about those who are absent.

The superheroes will emerge. They will write new laws, open new doors, and their names will end up in history books. But, that won’t be the majority of us, and it won’t be how the real work gets done. The real work will happen on the ground.

So, write articles, read relevant articles, allow yourself to be uncomfortable in the process. Turn your discomfort into a positive response to move humanity forward, not a negative reaction that sustains the status quo. Raise your vibration.

As for me, I’m gonna continue to use my anger to change the world one project at a time. I’m grateful for the authors who are using their pen to help me. These are just a few.