Facebook Publication Date: 5/31/2021 17:05

As we come to the end of May, I always tend to wax reflective.

As your newly affirmed official Executive Director of the Lace on Race Center for Racial Equity (using our newly minted formal name), it has been a month of paradox–so much has changed, and yet, nothing has, really.

What has changed–this new gravitas; a sense of the permanent. Becoming a formal entity, and now having a tangible role has brought some changes internally. This time three years ago, when I was ‘just’ a suburban woman banging away at an ancient laptop in her housedress, I had no idea that LoR would become what it has become today. I had something to say that I suspected no one else would, so I said it. I had no idea that what I conceptualized would have resonance beyond my existing friends and colleagues; those were the first hundred or so people who I invited into the Lace on Race space when I first launched in 2018. I had no idea that the ideas and phrases and ethos would have not just staying power, but influence beyond.

But it did. And it has.

These days, as I survey the landscape beyond the virtual walls, I see wisps of our method and of our ethos; our fragrance has reached other arenas, and not only in the racial justice. In education, in mental health, in the workplace, in houses of worship. Nothing gratifies me more than when either of these two things happen: when someone paraphrases or even outright quotes what we have been saying here inside my virtual living room, and people resonate–or, even better, when people speak a variant of my own words back to me.

Influence, whether or not it’s attributed or whether or not I (or we) get to take credit, matters. Remember in the 2020 Lace on Race Vision, when I basically said that our charge and our call was to move the stone by any means necessary? That still holds true, and it doesn’t matter whose mouth is moving as the stone is being lifted. We at Lace on Race will always be smaller in number than other major racial and social justice spaces, and that is absolutely ok. We are planting orange trees all over the place; becoming, if you will allow me, a sort of positive and benevolent kudzu that gently takes over spaces and provides fragrance and nourishment in fields that didn’t even know they’d been planted.

And this is so important, because the work we do is still so important. As in the series we are in the middle of where we take a close look at the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, or where we look at the lasting effects of medical racism, the need for our methods, convictions, ethos, and praxis is still vital.

Because this: the seeds that have been planted, where I see our words and ethos echoed in other spaces, didn’t just happen. It was and is because I, and you, have made sure of it. We have brought what we have learned and internalized here at LoR into our own spheres of influences, with or with attribution; we have dared to articulate and push back with kind candor, we have held our own hands and managed our slosh buckets while wearing our work Zoom outfits (nice top; pj’s on the bottom) or our Sabbath/Sunday bests or our shopping sweats.

We have approached the world with openness and curiosity, and have modeled Hesed–Hesed, which by itself is a form of positive kudzu, and others have done the same. Yes, gratifying.

But not everyone has inhaled the fragrance; not everyone has been able to see what we do and who we are.

In our latest all hands leadership meeting, where I was humbled to have my staff and leadership team toast my appointment as ED, Laura said something like this: that her wish for us was to be able to bring our best and tell our truth and live in Hesed without regard for immediate outcome.

I wept.

This month, we are again at about half of our monthly goal, two days before the end of the month. That can be, and is, discouraging–or rather it would be if I allowed it to be. Yes, that needs to change; yes, the community needs to show up in ways it has not since LoR became my full time vocation, and especially since Holly’s fragrance permeated this space. It is scary.

But not paralyzing. Three years ago, when I launched Lace on Race, I was thinking not about funds, but about truthtelling, community, Hesed, and relentless reliability. That has not changed. This will never change.

So long as I am allowed to, I will continue to wake up, suit up (housedress or sharp suit or joggers), show up, stand up, and speak up. I will continue to put every inch of skin in the game that I have.

I ask the same of you.

This is the Late May Ask for Lace on Race.

From the Early May Ask:

Very simply, I would like to continue to serve you with my utmost. I thank you in advance for allowing me to do so.

I also thank those of you who have financially engaged without the prompt of the ask, and for those of you who are aware of the shortfall that has been endured post Holly. If you would like to earmark engagement specifically to address that shortfall, you can designate and we will see it, and again, your thanks for your faith in me, in us, and your commitment to our Western Star, even in the midst of adversity.

To Sustainers, Sustainers in Training, those who have registered for the Lace on Race Cafe, and those who aspire to be part of Chef’s Table, thank you in advance for your fulfilling your monthly commitment. It is you all who allow us to serve and influence and mentor and teach and abide. Every month, especially in these recent challenging months, my heart swells because of your continued faithfulness.

For those of you who engage a la carte at the Takeout Window, I hope you have seen and appreciated the value in the fare we offer you and directly invite (and gently and lovingly challenge) you to partner with us.

If you would like to know more about becoming a Sustainer or a Sustainer in Training, or if you would like to be seated in the Bistro, links are below. I look forward to walking with and abiding with you in ever deeper ways.

What we do is different than what you will see anywhere else. What we offer to you is different; and what we ask for and from you is different. We are grateful for you. You will find our walking with you will never waver.

Sometimes it’s hard to say variations of the same thing at least twice a month: but the truth is here every day: what we do here is important and needed; your financial engagement is what allows it to happen, and this: we have only scratched the surface of what could be and what reach we could have.

Thank you to those who are now and or are considering walking with me in this way.

And a candid thank you, and an invitation, to those who are considering re-engagement who have not since February. I hope you have seen our faithfulness to you individually and to the community as a whole. Our faithfulness and resolve will continue; on that you can rest. I look forward to your renewed commitment with anticipation and with deep gratitude and appreciation.

In Hesed as always,

Your Lace

PayPal: paypal.me/LaceonRace

Engage with us in the Bistro: https://laceonrace.com/groups/the-bistro/forum/discussion/end-of-may-ask/

Sustainer Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFul2VLViJyv7Frn3fU_BStg2BMyk9x-M_CJv6jP4g-zQcuw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Sustainer in Training Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSess6XRJqLL934v_7eB2Ctq6EKOxMiu0Rsm-dZM1d_UHSWZUw/viewform?usp=sf_link

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