There are two things I’m trying to lean into right now: my aversion to discomfort, and my latent belief that I know what I need to know on the subject of racism. Just the title of this book lit up both of those reactions with a subconscious message to avoid and dismiss. When my inner voice says “you don’t need to read/watch/listen/do that”, instead of blindly following it, I’m trying to see it as an alarm and act differently. So I read this, and I’m glad I did.

One thing I keep thinking about this week is Akira Kurosawa’s comment: “The role of an artist is to not look away.” I don’t consider myself an artist, but I think you could also suggest that this is a condition of being fully human. I am trying to develop more courage to stop looking away, even (or perhaps, especially) at the parts of myself I would prefer not to see.