So, I’ve chosen to say something, to donate, and to otherwise take the best and most impactful actions that I can. And while I work out what those actions are, I've chosen to listen to the painful stories of my neighbors. I hope you will all do the same.

Without people like myself lending their voices to their neighbor's causes, speaking out about gross injustice where we see it, and joining and amplifying the conversation about how we can build a more just society together, there won’t be progress in this, or any other fight.

I can only speak for myself. I happen to have the luxury and the privilege to be able to largely “opt out” of these conversations, if I choose. However, to do so would make me complicit and would ignore the suffering of those around me.

At the core, though, this is about power and how it is wielded. It’s about accountability and justice. It’s about tolerance and understanding and compassion. Whatever your personal situation, I hope you will support your neighbor’s fight.

I know that there are other fights to be fought and there are many flavors of oppression - Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia, and more... in every imaginable combination.

You can donate to The Southern Poverty Law Center, The American Civil Liberties Union, The NAACP, Black Lives Matter, or any number of other organizations. You can choose to shop at https://t.co/Y0qsVTz8Xv. You can help elect leaders that will take us in the right direction.

Today, I would encourage everyone to stay safe and to be careful about protesting in large groups in the midst of a global pandemic. There are institutions that are already doing important work that you can support from your homes.

What I do know is that - if history is any indicator - the struggle for justice will probably outlive all of us, and that we must not be discouraged by slow progress. We must not become complacent as things do, slowly, improve.

I don't pretend to know how to fix any of this. I don’t know whether it’s a good use of energy to go door-to-door, convincing neighbors one-by-one, or whether we need to scrap everything and build new institutions to carry the fight.

And I’d like to ask anyone who might read this to (first and foremost) support each other, but also to take the time to listen, to understand how we got here (it’s not pleasant reading) - and then, to do what they can to bend us toward a more just society.

But I want him to know that I see him, and that I am here to listen to his stories, however painful. I am willing to do the work to better understand the issues and to be a better ally - to help bear the burden of teaching our history and advocating for justice.

His fears about raising children in the same place where he was raised. His relief that his children are not sons. I want to thank him for sharing his story. It can’t be easy to talk about, and it’s frankly not his job to educate me/us about where we’re at as a nation.

Last week, an employee shared stories about the racism he’s experienced in his life and the doubts and fears in his mind caused by everything he is seeing today. Doubts about what it even means to call this country his home, when it feels that his family is unwanted and unwelcome

Thinking about the long arc of the moral universe bending toward justice, and about the blood, sweat, and tears of those that actually make it bend that way.

Thinking about the work that’s ahead of us as a country to first restore peace, then to heal, and finally, hopefully, to fix our systems - and wondering, “can we do it?”

Thinking about the news media, and the film media, and social media and the subtle ways that we dehumanize each other, dogwhistle, and reinforce racial stereotypes - and wondering, “what if we all just turned off our screens?”

From almost 3,500 lynchings of Black Americans, to the deaths of white civil rights activists in Mississippi, to armed protests and counter-protests with “very fine people on both sides.”

And thinking about how far we’ve come and how much progress we’ve made -- We’ve gone from slavery to Jim Crow and segregation... all the way to the more subtle arts of modern voter suppression and gerrymandering.

Thinking about Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin, and the dangers of trespassing, or eating Skittles in public. About Christian Cooper and the dangers of birdwatching. About the (sometimes) much greater dangers of speaking to a white woman.

Thinking about Rodney King and rioting. About Kaepernick and kneeling. About protest and about the legacy, but also the fate, of Martin Luther King, Jr.