Take a Sneak Peek Into Your Future: Don't Waste the Opportunity to Grow

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Aug. 13, 2020 - PRLog -- Fast forward 20 years from now. Your child approaches you and asks, "I'm learning about the Black Lives Matter movement in school, the biggest civil rights movement in history. What did you do to make an impact?"

Thankfully you're not receiving these questions from your young, impressionable loved ones just yet. Even if you haven't attended a protest, donated to grassroots organizations, or posted on social media to further spread the message of the movement (I'm NOT talking about the black square of solidarity that just clogged up the timeline) there is still plenty to do to be part of the solution and not the problem.

Maybe your recount of the civil unrest of 2020 won't include a story of you being on the frontlines of the protests where you were tear gassed, hit with rubber bullets, or sustained injuries from being shoved out of the way by police just for that same police department to release a statement saying you "tripped and fell."

You might be thinking, "Well not all of us can be on the frontlines…" and that's okay. But when the time does come that your child or grandchild wants to know about the major historical events that you lived through, do you really want to look them in their little puppy dog eyes and say, "I didn't have the time," or even worse, "I was too ignorant and foolish back in 2020 to see the repercussions of my lack of awareness about the injustices the black and brown community has faced for the past 400 years," or do you want to be able to tell them you played a part in standing up to racial injustice in order to eradicate its very comfortable position within our society?

The truth is, the difference we can make starts within the places we already occupy. The home, the workplace, and most importantly within ourselves. No one expects you to be the face of a revolution, and just because that person may get the most recognition in the history books, doesn't mean those at all levels didn't play just as important of a role.

Because this is a movement not a moment.

Despite what you may be telling yourself, it's not too late to start. You didn't miss the opportunity to partake if you didn't get involved in the aforementioned activities. The issue of systemic racism has been around for 400 years so it's definitely not going to disappear after a few weeks of protesting. It can be an intimidating task if you don't know where to begin.

First step, learn more about your tendency to use bias through APA Solutions' 4-part Equity and Social Justice virtual training series beginning on August 20^th: https://bit.ly/3akcQmA