This Week's Opening Thought: October 23, 2023

This week's opening thought: Remember to take a moment today to remind yourself of how awesome, valuable, and splendid you are. Why?

Because you are all of the above, silly.

You're all the abovementioned and then some.

I know the world is heavy right now. The exposure to the pains and traumas all around us is heavy. Life can feel so heavy. The traumas so many of us are enduring right now are extremely heavy. But none of that weight diminishes the fact that you deserve love and horn-tooting. You deserve to love yourself and show yourself that love every chance you get. And that love deserves to extend to every part of you.

Every nook and cranny.

You're a biscuit, baby. Butter yourself up.

On People of Pallor, Law Students, and White Supremacist Ideologies

I recently saw a video where a young, inebriated woman of pallor was pulled over for a suspected DUI. She failed every field sobriety test with flying colors. When the officer informed her that she was under arrest, the young woman, who shared she was a law student, told the officer she could not be arrested unless she consented to, and was willing to be, arrested.

This sentence was one of the whitest things my ears have heard in the entire year of someone’s Lord 2023.

The things that white supremacist ideologies implant in the bodies, brains, and belief systems of the un-melanated masses never fail to shock me.

Does she think that if people of culture, Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, consent to the harm that policing systems have levied against us for centuries? Does she think the melanated are willing participants in centuries of traumatic events administered by policing? Did she believe the officer, a white male, was going to agree with her and let her go because she thought she was more learned than him on the law and could outsmart them? Did this un-melanated woman believe she was above the law, even though she posed a threat to other civilians by being above the acceptable breathalyzer test levels?

Or is it all the above?

And how many people of pallor have similar beliefs and values?

And how many of them are lawyers?

The things that make you go “Hmm.”

I hope she never gets to practice law.

This Week's Opening Thought: October 9, 2023

This week's opening thought: Much love to my Native and Indigenous friends, family, and colleagues on Indigenous People's Day. Y'all matter, your heritage and stewardship matter, and I see y'all.

Remember white people: you can't discover something that was already there and inhabited by people for thousands of years before yo' asses popped up.

Also, Columbus was a [redacted] jive [redacted] turkey. End of discussion.

On "Fit," Belonging, Copping a Squat, and Sitting a Spell

For those who have never felt how it feels to understand that there isn't a workplace where you "fit" or belong because of your identities and that your only recourse is to do what you must to survive, count yourselves lucky.

But while you're counting your lucky stars, sit a spell and unpack how privileged you are to feel like you belong everywhere with no feelings of discomfort or attacks on your personhood.

Or cop a squat and mull over how unwilling you might be to acknowledge that you've accepted assimilation and suppression of who you are in some fashion as a form of survival.

Acknowledging these things isn't intended to make you feel guilty.

Acknowledging these things is intended to help you tap into your humanity.

Workplaces aren't one size fits all.

Identities, safety, and belonging aren't either.

This Week's Opening Thought: October 2, 2023

This week's opening thought: I went to use the restroom while waiting for my flight out of Chicago and back to Portland (my wife and I took a much-needed long weekend trip) and encountered a gentleman in the middle of a phone call. He was standing at a urinal, Bluetooth in his ear, deeply involved in a work-related conversation while, I assume, trying to take a standing piss.

While catching this spectacle, the only thing that came to mind was there was something in this person’s work history that made him think he was not allowed the option or opportunity to take a bathroom break. Seeing that he was a person of culture, I can't imagine the experiences that led to the perceived understanding that his bladder and physical relief are significantly less important than a work call. I know the weight of working in white workplaces, in overwhelmingly white professions, and how deep the wounds it inflicts on your identities and self-worth are. I’m fortunate enough to be healing from my experiences, but I know so many people of culture aren’t as fortunate or have yet to embark on that journey. Some never will. I do not judge them, because no one’s journey in life is a carbon copy of someone else’s, but my heart hurts for them.

He left the bathroom before me, sharing one of those work-related jokes many people of culture have been conditioned to tell so our white “colleagues” deem us “safe” and palatable. I’m not a religious man, but I said a little prayer for homeboy’s safe travels and a safer employment situation. I also hoped he has a safe place at home where he doesn't have to be on like this and can prioritize his bladder over a spreadsheet.

Ain’t no job worth your soul, your identities, your self-worth, or a multitasking situation at a urinal in a Chicago airport restroom.