This is not my moment to speak, so I have been deliberately quiet these last weeks.
But I have not been silent.
I am reading and reflecting, learning and listening. I am also taking actions that might be louder than words: I am donating, signing petitions, striving for solidarity. I have done all of this for many years, yet I am painfully aware that it is still not enough — especially now.
The road to all this trouble we are in is paved with good intentions, much like mine. So I intend, now, to do better, be better, be more.
More active. More receptive. More self-aware. More aware of others’ struggles, and more constantly sympathetic to them.
More committed to change, more helpful in making it happen.
More is, after all, more.
We need more equality.
More freedom.
More justice.
More understanding.
More peace.
More love.
Let us all work together to make those things happen, so that the next Juneteenth — which we should all celebrate together as a national day — is a happier, better day than today. This should be a day of celebration, but also one of reckoning, of sharing joy about how far we have come, but also acknowledging how far we have yet to go.
Let us work, and let us hope.
Let us never be silent again.
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