Sandra Bland Day: Let’s Continue to Do the Work

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend Sandra Bland Day in Austin. The amazing Community Advocacy and Healing Project organized the event.

Sandra Bland’s death hit me hard back in 2015. And whenever I think something is hard for me as a white person, I pause. I try to put myself in the shoes of People of Color to the extent that I can. At the Sandra Bland Day event, I got to listen to a Black woman talk about what Sandra’s story was like for her. She explained that most of the police brutality she had witnessed prior to that point had been on Black men. Those situations always made her worry about her son.

Sandra’s story was the first time she watched it and thought, “That could be me.”

We have to continue to do the work to dismantle racism. Those of us who are white need to bear the greatest amount of weight in this work. We need to lean in and do more.

I think the work that each of us needs to do looks different depending on the cities we live in, the circles we run in, etc.

Continuing the Work Beyond Sandra Bland Day

I personally need to continue the deep work I’m doing in therapy to help me unpack the parts of my personality that perpetuate a white normative culture. For example, some of the key characteristics are a sense of urgency, perfectionism, worship of the written word, etc. As the leader of an organization that strives to be as diverse, equitable, and inclusive as possible, I must urgently attend to these parts of my personality. I also have to keep listening to People of Color about the best ways we can grow as an anti-bias, anti-racist organization.

Further, I need to keep attending events in my local community to build connections across lines of difference. I recently attended a Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation circle. Similar to the Sandra Bland Day events, it was an opportunity to build community across lines of difference.

There’s still so much work to be done to build a world where there is liberty and justice for all.