image from: @thisrenegadelove
Lauren, from This Renegade Love summed up so well what I would never have been able to articulate.
Yes, I've felt terribly saddened by the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, but the events in Dallas have made me feel sad in a place that I did not know was possible. Part of this sadness comes with feeling helpless. I've been thinking and discussing a lot about:
- What can I do?
- How will this impact our children?
My motivation for creating madeLOKAL was to ensure that our next generation could live in a world that would make us proud. I was thinking more in terms of creativity and opportunity. Supporting artistic talents and abilities so that our children could feel confident that their skills would be valued and useful. While those things are important.....they are only important if you do not have to worry about basic human needs and rights such as freedom and equality. Basic tenants of being an American...and completely taken for granted if you are privileged.
During a Black Lives Matter demonstration, a man wore a sign that struck me, "You are privileged if you have to learn about racism versus living it every single day." As you may know, madeLOKAL is seeking a partner charity that aligns with our mission. We'd be remarkably grateful if the tiny good that came out of this week for us would be to find a match. Our dream has been to partner with a charity that improves the future lives of at-risk American children. We'd love to hear from you if you have any leads or ideas.
In the meantime, we leave you with a portion of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s, Strength To Love spoken in 1963, never more relevant than today:
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Throughout violence you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
Hate multiplies hate,
violence multiplies violence,
and toughness multiplies toughness
in a spiral of destruction...
The chain reaction of evil -,
hate begetting hate,
wars producing more wars -
must be broken,'or we shall be plunged
into the dark abyss of annihilation.
image from Huffington Post
Did you read Lauren's letter?
Take me HOME
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