A Year To Recommit to Racial Equity
After George Floyd’s murder, we took a step back as an organization.
Our first move was to bear witness. There was so much frustration. People were tired. They kept seeing the same things happen and no real change occurred.
The broken record kept on spinning.
We started to see more unity among different community organizations. Latinx Education Collaborative and Brothers Liberating Our Communities created a space for men of color to process what was happening and make plans for how to move forward together.
Jorge Holguin
These were new, and necessary, touchpoints with the community. A space to have real talk about what’s going on. Folks from all over came together. It was something to see and be a part of.
But most of all, people were channeling their frustrations in healthy ways and educating themselves.
As an organization, I’m proud that LEANLAB stepped up the plate. We leaned into the idea that everyone has power. We deepened our practice of echoing the voices of different individuals to ensure real issues were brought to the various tables and addressed.
This work is personal for me. I grew up here—in the Northeast. A place with lots of stigma unfortunately attached to it, but lots of bright spots too.
I think about my daughter. I want her to have positive learning experiences. I want her to feel welcomed in the community. I do not want her to feel like she needs to move to have opportunities to grow.
That puts me shoulder-to-shoulder with the families we serve through LEANLAB.
I’m hopeful that we’ll use this moment of resistance to injustice to start reframing weaknesses as strengths, especially the powerful stories of resilience in our communities. But I also worry that we’ll romanticize those stories and reach for tokenistic representation.
I think about my daughter. I want her to have positive learning experiences. I want her to feel welcomed in the community. I do not want her to feel like she needs to move to have opportunities to grow.
I know we can do better than that. I’ve seen the best of us during this summer’s racial reckoning. And I’ll keep pushing along with my colleagues and community members to make it happen.
In Solidarity,
Jorge Holguin
Manager of Community Organizing