Very Personal Thoughts on Race - Part One - Introduction

I have been inspired to write a series of posts on race and anti-racism work and my personal relation with them.

I want to begin by saying that I am very aware that these posts may end up sounding self-righteous. That is not my intention. In each of our lives, there are things we believe and live into seriously, and there are things we believe and don't live into so seriously. Anti-racism work is one of the things I believe in and live into seriously.

There are plenty of things I believe in, but don't do much about and haven't inconvenienced myself much for or re-arranged my life to change. Such things might include eating and producing organic food, stopping domestic violence, avoiding sweatshop labor, stopping war, and the list goes on.

For whatever reason, working to understand and dismantle racism, at every level possible is something that has taken hold of my life in ways that many other issues haven't. It has affected me spiritually, and because of that, I believe I have something useful to say about it.

It is my hope to be productive with these posts, despite the fact that they are inspired by disappointment in some of my colleagues. Please help me find what is useful out of these reflections. Please forgive me if I sound self-righteous. Please understand that I do not expect anyone else to do what I do though I'd love to have company, and that I am so glad there are other people who are picking up the slack on the issues I care about but don't do much about.