"I don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people."

For me, it all boils down to empathy—the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes and imagine their suffering and pain. As a white woman of relatively profound privilege, I know that I will never understand what it is like not to travel through life without a perennial leg up, feeling safe in my own skin, enjoying the benefit of the doubt, a second and third chance, and the assurance that my sons are much more likely to return home safe to me after an encounter with law enforcement officials than Black sons. I will never understand, but I stand in solidarity and compassion with my fellow Americans who have suffered because they don’t also benefit from white privilege. I am grieving the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Brianna Taylor. I am grieving our broken country, the loss we have collectively and cumulatively suffered. Racism means that we ALL lose critical opportunities. I will work to effect positive change in my community as a citizen and a professional. Black Lives Matter.