Chair’s Corner: June 2020

This June we find ourselves in a time of extremes.  Stuck at home without travel and social gatherings things have slowed, quieted even, while tensions in the world outside swirl in a fevered frenzy. Admittedly I had been shying away from the news. With less to do and more time to think the reality of the world weighed heavy on my chest.  That very decision, to turn away and come back to it later, is a privilege, the privilege to say I can’t deal with that today, maybe I’ll look at it tomorrow.  I struggled to look at news as face after face of black individuals killed and brutalised by police popped up on my newsfeed.  Then I found the video of George Floyd automatically playing on my phone late at night and I realised I couldn’t hide anymore. There were no excuses for sitting back and burying my head in the sand. I had been repeating to myself ‘why doesn’t someone do something?!’ until I realised that I wasn’t doing anything.  Sometimes looking around as the world whizzes by is daunting, where do we even start?  But we need to start somewhere.  No action is too small.  What gives me hope in times like these is the knowledge of the amazing community of activists, of people who really care about what is going on and want to make a difference, that we have built here in the Women’s Caucus.  You all inspire me to be better every day.  As the post cards we have been colouring recently said – Individually we are one drop, together we are an ocean.  

So let’s get this ocean moving and start turning some tides.  We’ve put together an activist calendar for June.   One action per day.  Together we can rise up and support our friends, families, and neighbours in the states to end systematic racism.  We need to start with ourselves and understand our privileges and biases, build ourselves a solid foundation and then go out into the world starting with families and friends to help drive change.  

Let’s do this together.