This blog post is not a usual WorkLife Consulting post. It is my -- Laura Butler’s -- thoughts during an exceedingly difficult time in America. This blog is being written on June 3, 2020, following the unnecessary murder of a black man a week earlier by a white police officer. The week has been fraught with protests throughout America, some turning violent. As a Baby Boomer who has lived with this friction my whole life, it still feels raw each time something as horrific as this murder reminds me of the tension yet again. As a Boomer, white woman who grew up with privilege, I know very little about the challenges people of color face due to unconscious bias, prejudice, assumptions, and hatred for reasons I have yet to understand.

Living in Boston while attending college in the late sixties and early seventies, I participated in protests around the Vietnam War. Although not racist protests, per se (although there were several), I marched in front of the National Guard and was involved in a tear gas episode that was frightening. I can only pretend to imagine what it must be like for people who live with this potential fear and threat daily. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote an excellent piece in the LA Times where he references the metaphor of a burning building and the lives that African Americans have been living while trapped inside that burning building, choking on the smoke of racism.

My question for all of us is, what can we do collectively? As I develop and deliver women’s empowerment and leadership programs, I encourage the participants to become aware of the assumptions that hold them back. I feel that my level of expertise affords me the opportunity to help and guide women who are coming up against their personal precipice where they get to choose what they can do next. Will they stand up to do the right thing? Will they speak up on behalf of themselves and their colleagues? Will they step up and create the change they would like to see? Will they wake up to their untapped potential?

I wonder if these same questions can be asked of me as a Boomer white woman? What is the personal precipice at this point in time? Our voices matter as they can be heard in support of all lives matter and certainly in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. I do not pretend to have the answers, but if there is anything these life experiences have taught me is speak up. Do not cave into fear! As Gandhi said, “be the change you want to see”! What can we envision for the future that will help heal this pain, anger, divisive behavior? Keep spreading the message peacefully as there is tremendous power in the positive momentum of the masses.

What would you recommend we do collectively to address these issues? Has there been a turning point in your life that may have made you feel trapped inside your personal burning building? Be vigilant! Keep shining the light on indifference and always be questioning your basic assumptions!