This is important. Please read. Broken out from another thread.
The fact is, most of us in this space, regardless of race, have never been under the direction of a Black woman–there are slivers of us in supervisory, managerial, and executive roles. Put bluntly, you are not used to listening to us and taking us seriously.
We are going to have to confront this hard as we move into more midterms, and into the 2020 election. WW talk a good game about following Black women, but if engagement here is any indication–and I absolutely feel that it is–it will be a bumpy road ahead. Outside of voter suppression, I blame he losses of 2018 in GA and FL on this very thing–white people couldn’t bring themselves to pull the lever.
Here is so instructive: Every measurable metric: post engagement, contributing to this community, doing rather than spectating, are all skills that are sorely lacking in this space, and that must, must be shored up in time to make substantial change. Less than 2 percent of the 4000 of you have ever contributed. Less than a tenth of that 2 % are sustainers. How do you really think this is going to play out in real life during tough election fights?
There is a reason why I harp on internal work. And yes, contributing to what you say you believe in. *Because these skills will come in handy at elections, in workplaces, in houses of worship* If you cannot follow an online direction that literally costs you nothing, how are you going to follow a black femme minister? Head of your company? How are you going to seek out and follow the advice of black attorneys, therapists, doctors, accountants?
Here is the answer: on the main, you don’t. This is a lab, a practice space to be sure. It is also a microcosm–*who you are in this space is who you are*.
If you can’t get these basic principles down here–how are you going to make the changes you say you want in the public sphere?
Unless you think that the black faces are figureheads and there are actually people you respect–white people–doing the actual work.
Welp. This is why we are talk about the internal. Not just for the feels, but because your interior lives *drive your public and civic behavior*.
Breaking this out into another pinned post. This is the heart of it, y’all.