#irunwithmaud and it's a privilege.

I am still in shock. To be extremely honest, I tried to "turn away" from my social media feeds as they flooded with his smiling face. I am emotionally wrought with the weight of the world, our current pandemic, not having been in real contact with another human for over two months, an incredibly heavy workload, my own auto-immune disease that creates an extra layer of caution applied, and being divided from my people...and then I thought about it more.

ALL of these are stark examples of my privilege and the privilege of many like me that we don't always recognize.

I had the privilege to be in shock because although I and many believe this is unfathomable, for my peers of color this is ever-present.

I had the privilege to turn away to process, while my peers of color had to put their personal emotions aside and step up to shout from the rooftops and create a nationwide rally call for justice.

And I have the privilege to see my loved ones again and live with an inherent level of safety, while my peers of color live with a level of fear that their life or the lives of their loved ones may be taken.

So - I’m going to use the privilege I was born into to share the message to anyone who will listen....
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This is not ok. This devastating reality of inequality, the unbalanced value of life, and the “up for interpretation” application of justice.

We need to run, kneel, raise our fists, raise our voices and stand with our peers of color. We all need to stand together.

Although I'm not comfortable running outside right now, I laced up, ran a few "laps" around my apartment, and watched the sunset thinking about the sun setting on Ahmaud's time here and strategizing more ways we can stand together with each coming sunrise.

#irunwithmaud and it's a privilege.