Black lives matter.
Black trans lives matter.
Black joy and love MATTER.
I stand in solidarity with Black lives, now and for the rest of my life.

In the past, I have done a small amount of personal anti-racism work, but not nearly enough. I have not risked anything, not stepped very far into discomfort.

No more.

I am fully committed to the essential, lifelong work of addressing racism and white supremacy within myself and in our world. I am in this for life.  

Today, I’m sharing the work I’m doing personally. My business is small, just me, so I am starting with the human that runs that business. But I have also been learning about and creating a plan for the ways my small business of one can commit to anti-racism; and as my business grows and shifts, I will continue to educate myself about how I can uphold this commitment.

I’ve identified four main areas in which I’m personally taking action:

First, I’m taking external action. I’m donating money, making calls, sending emails, and signing petitions. I will also speak up when I see injustice or harm being done in person or online, or when I hear someone making racist or harmful comments.

Second, I’m examining where I spend my time, money, and attention and how I can shift those to include more Black creators, businesses, and more. This is true within my business as well as my personal life.

Third, I’m educating myself. This includes books, articles, podcasts, emails, Patreon accounts, Instagram posts, and more. And I will pay those who spent time, money, and energy on the resources I use.

And fourth, I will work for the rest of my life to examine, address, and dismantle racism within myself. This will be layered, complex work because racism has been a part of this country and its systems since the beginning. This includes getting into my body, working with the parts of myself that have kept me silent and complacent in the past, learning and growing within community, staying with my discomfort, and not getting stuck in shame.

I’ve identified a list of issues I want to specifically work on, and I’ve created a plan for myself that includes daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly actions to take. These issues and this plan will shift over time, but I’m committed to an ongoing process of finding the most sustainable way to do this work as my life evolves.

If you have questions or are wondering how to get started with one or more of the actions I’m committed to, please reach out! I’m happy to share.

I want to note that I will get things wrong sometimes. I am prepared for that. If you see something I could do better, I am here to listen (and discuss / apologize / repair / be accountable / and so on as needed).

I will update the statement as more arises. This will not be the last time you hear from me about any of this!