Monday's Opening Thought: March 30, 2020

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So...last week there was no opening thought. I honestly didn’t have one in me. It just...there wasn’t a sentiment in my head or my heart that could encapsulate what so many of us were struggling through last week. So I put my energy into building community resource lists and helping job-seekers and organizations.

And I mentally and emotionally drained myself.

My wife gets on me all the time about taking care of myself so I can take care of others and to quit shouldering the weight of everyone’s anxiety. This pandemic has hammered home how on point she is about her assessment of me. I finally realized I needed her help to see the burden of it all isn’t all on me. None of us are doing this alone right now and we should be helping each other realize that in an empathic way. So this week I start the week giving y’all advice that I’ll be following too.

This week’s opening thought: you are strong. But even the strong need help. 

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White Supremacy and Oregon: A Workplace Case Study

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Imagine being a person of culture and building up the courage to step forward and file a complaint at work because some of your fellow employees have been actively and openly racist toward you. Now imagine your boss, a white cis male, deciding that the best response to addressing your complaint is calling up his buddy, a white cis male who is also a local police chief. Not to ask his buddy how he should handle this situation, mind you, but to call in a favor in putting together a fraudulent case against you to portray you as stealing from the company to terminate your employment. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

Welcome to Crazy Town.

West Linn, Oregon, to be exact.

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