By JUSTIN HOLNESS
As an Afro-Indigenous person I wanted to share a moment of reflection.
I was talking with my father, Keith Holness, and had to ask him why I feel so numb and desensitized to what's happening.
His simple reply was, "This is not the first time".
As my heart sunk into my chest I sat with those words, "This is not the first time".
As anger filled my void I couldn't help but want to know the answer and find WHAT the solution is that I can contribute to.
That's when I realized I am the solution, we are the solution, not WHAT is the solution. If I do my part to be the best me, I am part of the change to make the world around me a better place. When I succeed, the opposition loses.
When I keep my family and loved ones safe and protected, there is no threat. When we come together as a community, we are stronger.
It then dawned on me.
Imagine we took our anger, hurt, sadness, and hate and created our own economy and immersed ourselves in every facet of society so we can self-determine what we need to make our communities a better place. I found peace with these thoughts.
I am not going to project my generational trauma onto others. I am going to dig deep within and do better for myself and my family (whether that be chosen or otherwise).
I learned an important lesson from Andrea Menard on one of my #NOBLUEPRRINT episodes that has stuck with me. When we do the work to heal ourselves the next generation will be better than ours because we did that work so they don't have to!
I encourage our People of Color and Indigenous relatives to be mindful of where we are putting our energy. We are all responsible for our individual actions for better or for worse. Let's make the best of it!
I stand in solidarity!
[Photo Credit: Jen Bernard Photography ]