I had a sobering conversation at the dinner table last night with @samthamann . We talked about George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Trayvon Martin. The words that come to me are heartbreaking, unthinkable, infuriating, scary. Part of why our conversation was sobering for me was that we talked about the responsibility of white people raising their voices along with the minority communities. Standing in solidarity and holding the suffering with our brothers and sisters. If I am heartbroken and infuriated but I keep it to myself, why is that? Am I avoiding uncomfortable conversations and conflict? I think much of my silence on the matter has been because I didn’t think it was my place to speak. But after talking with Sam last night I realized that my silence is only adding to the suffering. As Jen Hatmaker so accurately writes about racism “For those of us in the dominant narrative, action means not defaulting to our own demographic. We might need to deliberately seek racism to see it” Last night I saw and heard the story through Sam’s eyes and ears. And not because I brought it up, but because he did. I realized that I need to be willing to be Uncentered. It’s in that uncomfortably and justifiable anger we can challenge the existing power structures. I learned last night that while I want to be slow to speak and quick to listen, I can still raise my voice. I can ask to hear the story from a different narrative. And then ask permission to share that story as an act of love and solidarity that changes not only my narrative but our narrative as a whole. #butterflybtc