This is an amazing and sad story. Perhaps not so amazing, unremarkable, even…that is the heart wrenching part.
After reading this I did a brief 10 min mediation from Jon Kabat-Zinn to release the emotions of sadness, anger, and frustration I feel when I hear stories like these.
For some, it’s writing, running, distraction, etc. to cope with how these issues affect us. I feel soothed and calm through writing, listening to, or creating music. But to organize my thoughts, I have to calm down first.
I used to get overwhelmed by my emotions, after reading about the problems in the world, but learning to manage my feelings has helped to energize and galvanize me, now that I know I can use that to fuel the hunger I feel to bring about change.
Rilla Askew | 2014 | 21 minutes (5,065 words)
Download .mobi (Kindle)Download .epub (iBooks)
When my godson Trey was a toddler growing up in Brooklyn, every white woman who saw him fell in love with him. He was a beautiful child, sweet natured, affectionate, with cocoa-colored skin and a thousand-watt smile. I remember sitting with him and his mom in a pizzeria one day, watching as he played peekaboo with two white ladies at a nearby booth. “What a little doll!” the ladies cooed. “Isn’t he adorable?”
I told Marilyn I dreaded the day he would run up against some white person’s prejudice. “His feelings are going to be hurt,” I said. “He won’t know it’s about this country’s race history, he’ll think it’s about him. Because so far in his young life every white person he’s ever met has adored him.” Marilyn nodded, but her closed expression seemed…
View original post 5,000 more words
Elle Madelyn 
Leave a Reply