What it Means to Be a Mom Against Racism

From one of our newest members…

" I grew up in a small midwestern city, highly segregated and highly diverse. I heard Bobby Seale speak nearly 20 years ago, and was inspired, but stood back, thinking because I wasn't racist, that was ok. But I wasn't anti-racist, and I still had racist conditioning in me. Over the years, as I exposed myself to stories, dug deeper, and reflected on reactions (including my own), I began to feel a deep resonance with decolonization.

Then witnessing/experiencing the last year in my south Minneapolis neighborhood lit a fire. George Floyd was murdered in my neighborhood, and the uprising surrounded me. I had many conversations with other white parents who were unsure how to speak with their kids about what was happening, and each had a different answer. I hid nothing. It is a privilege to choose what our children are exposed to and experience. My eldest son was deeply affected, and wanted to learn and do more. Both my sons and I spent the last year questioning, seeking, and learning, and having incredible and difficult conversations with each other and others. I expanded my frame of reference and started to become more involved in anti-racism work. Last week, I watched a mother hours after she lost her son, Daunte. I felt her. I felt the anguish of every mother unsure if they would see their child again. This deepened with the news of Alex Toledo. No mother should experience that anguish - that fear or that pain - and I vow to do everything I can to stop our children from being killed."