I hope to use my human suit, my spirit, my heart, my words, my being, my whiteness, appearance, power and privilege to make positive lasting change to defunct systems that perpetuate racism. I hope to position myself within my chosen fields of music and social work in ways to elevate the voices of POC, indigenous, Latinx communities, and minorities. Social workers serve minorities, and yet the field remains predominately led by white and heterosexual persons. I hope to work for and with communities to elevate the voices of people with lived experiences of oppression. I will leverage my white privilege to amplify these voices. I am white and benefit and perpetuate these systems unless I actively dismantle them, and I am dedicating my career and life to doing so. We are all equal, we are all one people. I believe in love, harmony, truth, justice, unity, and peace as the ground and essence of life, and welcome all waves of negative emotions as a cleansing, a healing, and an indicator of how we can grow and change, deepen our love and align ourselves with true health of body mind and spirit individually and collectively. Let's continue to self examine and plug ourselves in to solution focused organizations doing the work. Whether your way is loud and public or soft and behind the scenes, I see you, I feel you, I am with you. We are changing, the change is now. Thank you to everyone who has been putting themselves out there and getting uncomfortable. Thank you for baring with each other through strangeness and discomfort, through feelings of guilt shame and anger, judgement. All of it. We will and are enduring. We are growing, together, whether we see it or not. Our destinies are linked as one people, and I see a time on the horizon of more respect, justice, equality, peace, understanding, love, and balance with each other and all of nature. I hold firmly this vision for our planet with deep prayer, reverence, respect and love.
Sincerely, Melissa