062: Racism, Consciousness, Grief, Hope

<p>Last week’s killing of George Floyd has affected all of our lives. For those who have decided to tune in deeply, we understand that his slaying by the knee of a warped and indifferent police officer is just one of hundreds of similar incidents, such as the police slaying of Breonna Taylor while she laid in bed in her own apartment, and of the long-delayed justice (only know starting its wheels) for Ahmaud Arbery murdered by jogging in a certain kind of neighborhood. Add in the potential and very real danger the Central Park bird-watching Christopher Cooper who was put in because of a woman's racial panic that led her to make a demonstrably false report to police about being threatened by a black man, the police choke-hold death of Eric Garner several years ago, and we cannot help but realize we are being invited in a most intense way to examine the systematic and personal racism that has led to extremely unfair and, too often, violent actions against persons of color, especially black women and men. The fact that this awakening is taking place during a worldwide pandemic is good but also very scary. Good because many of us have fewer distractions that will take our attention away from these crimes and the demonstrations in our streets and around the world. Scary because of the additional health risks that come from people crowding together to protest these and all the thousands of deaths and enslavements of black persons going back more than 400 years.<br /> <br /> We are grateful that three black counselors, therapists, and educators agreed to come on Latter-day Faith to share their experiences and open a door to the world they have lived in their entire lives and the toll it has taken on them and other black people. This is an episode in which we are taught, taken into new heart and mind spaces, and challenged to examine the world in new ways. But it is also an episode that is full of hope alongside the pain and frustrations shared. Our great thanks to <strong>LaShawn Williams</strong>, <strong>Kimberly Appl