But here we are, here’s where we find ourselves. Encounters are now visible, where once they were just tucked away and hidden, and then of course, reframed. But we’ve never ever had a level playing field before, and that’s just becoming more and more clear. We have never had a truly equitable culture.Īnd there’s all kinds of hierarchies inside, different sorts of power plays, and at the intersections of race and of gender and sexuality. So I can’t hardly go anywhere without this discussion being something that we are collectively worried about, concerned about, interested in, connected to, compelled by this sense of building a truly equitable culture, one we’ve never had. And of course, one of those is obviously racism, and what we’ve seen, what we’ve collectively experienced, having just emerged from a year after George Floyd’s murder, and the list is long, and apparently never ending. So it’s interesting to be coming out of the pandemic with some conversations nationally that are now very, very, very centered. Some of them are working on creating transition, which is kind of where we are at with today’s guest. Some of them experienced some huge tragedy that forced them into a transition. Some of them had transitions that they made on purpose. And we are talking to leaders and thinkers and human beings who have transitioned from one thing to another. We’re in a series called For the Love of Transitions, as you know. Jen Hatmaker here, host of the For the Love Podcast. Come get uncomfortable with us and let’s all move toward making something great. Emmanuel and Jen walk through the difference between outright racism (which universally, most of us are against) and racial insensitivity (which many of us are guilty of without even knowing it). Emmanuel puts the thought out there that racial insensitivity is a bigger problem than racism itself in our country, and points out that living in D-E-N-I-A-L (don’t even know I am lying) keeps that insensitivity intact. He also recognizes that getting people to embrace discomfort toward change is tough, but it’s worth it. Emmanuel believes that everything great comes by being uncomfortable first, and by pushing us toward those uncomfortable moments, he’s hoping to topple the attitudes we might not even be aware we’ve been caught up in, toward a better and more understanding way of being. Some transitions are extremely broad in their scope and may seem nearly impossible-and one issue that’s come to the top of our agendas over the last year is how do our communities and our country get to a place where we are moving toward an attitude of racial sensitivity? Is it possible that we agree more on what needs to happen around racial justice in this country than what we’re seeing portrayed as a great divide? Former NFL football player/now author and host of “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” Emmanuel Acho believes that many of us truly do want the same things when it comes to racial justice, but by living in long-held attitudes and perpetuating insensitive commentary around race, we’ve been unable to make the big strides needed to make lasting change. We’re sharing the stories of people who have lived through or implemented drastic changes in their lives and came out on the other side stronger and better than before. During our For the Love of Transitions series, we’re learning how to embrace change. However, when we live in denial, inequity and ignorance cannot be challenged, and greatness will not be achieved. When it comes to changing unhealthy dialogues and digging up errant roots that have been allowed to grow deep-many of us tend to ignore the discomfort and carry on with our days.
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