Black Lives Matter
Usually, the Massage Me blog is not somewhere we would get political, but in the current climate, doing or saying nothing is a political stance in itself. We would rather speak up and stand with this movement than stay silent.
Working in the French Alps is often very deceiving. We live in a kind of ‘bubble’. We work and live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, but there are limitations. Out here, there is very little diversity, whether you are looking at skin colour, nationality, disability, mental health, sexual orientation … the world here is very… well, vanilla.
This means we have to work extra hard to ensure that we don’t become ‘blind’ to these beautiful diversities.
We must open our eyes to the systemic racism that we are often brought up with and check the white privilege most of us don’t even realise we have. After all, our children do not enter this world racist or blind to diversity. They inherit it and learn it from the world and the people around them. Basically, our children model and learn their behaviours from us.
I have received many emails and posts over the last few days about resources to educate yourself. All of them actively want you to share and spread the message. So I thought this platform was somewhere I could use to reach out and share some of that information. So here goes …
The kids are not alright.
Have a look through your bookshelves: through your kid’s bookshelves and your own. How many of them have black main characters (or characters of colour). It is often quite shocking when you look at the proof. I know in our household, it was a big reality check - especially we are raising bi-racial (Asian / Caucasian) boys and actively search out books for them with Asian, specifically Chinese stories and characters in them.
The Instagram account @littleboxofbooks is dedicated to finding and listing books for children with characters of colour. Check it out for some inspiration.
Thanks to Jane for sharing this with me
Educate yourself
There is a wealth of information out there - get online, get active on your social media. Instagram and Facebook have a lot of active and authoritative voices on these subjects. This is why I’ve chosen to link through to Insta accounts from the images used in this blog. Clicking through these accounts will open you up to more and more resources for you and your family. We’re also constantly adding more resources to our #BLM Pinterest board to keep all our resources together. Check it out if you’re interested to know more.
There are also some more lengthly articles and also some books that have been recommended to me.
ARTICLES
These articles are informative and helpful.
BOOKS
How To Be An Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reddi Eddo-Lodge
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
How to Protest
There are so many reasons why physically joining a protest might not be possible for you. BUT you can still show your support. You can still join the movement virtually by speaking up online, using your social media and voicing your support and love for those out there. You might think it small to you, but it all makes a difference. Make sure to ## everything with the #blacklivesmatter. By doing this, your posts become part of the worldwide movement and community. They are collected together by the algorithms that sweep Facebook / Instagram / Twitter and keep this topic alive, current and prominent in all of our minds.
Joining the blackout Tuesday that happened this week is a perfect example of showing your solidarity.
Shared from Urban Massage App
How to Donate
Another way to support the movement is to donate. Here are some places you can donate to:
Click on the image to out these UK organisations set up to support black/BAME communities.
How to say sorry
Finally, no one is perfect. Everything is a learning experience. Just because this might be something you haven’t been overly aware of in the past, that doesn’t mean that today is too late to start doing something. It might be that you feel anxious or embarrassed about your behaviour or actions in the past. Well, no time like the present to make that change. Apologising is an art form, and we can all benefit from learning to do it well. This video, shared with me, will help you with some tools to carry with you into the future How To Apologize When Called Out.
Pass it Forward
Like all the emails and posts I have received about this, please share it with anyone you know. Right now, this is big news and one of the top news stories, But we must keep this momentum going and make sure that on the back of the current outrage, real changes are made that will bring an end to these disparities.
Also, we here at Massage Me aren’t perfect. If there is something we haven’t said here, but should. Or something you think we should be doing now or in the future, then let us know. Comments are open on this post and will be read and responded to with thought and compassion.