White Men: Your Voice Matters #BLM

We are in the midst of the largest Civil Rights movement the world has ever seen. Protests and rallies are happening in all fifty states and eighteen countries. The Black Lives Matter movement is gaining momentum like never before.

White people are finally coming to the table. They’re reading Ibram X. Kendi’s book, Stamped From the Beginning. They’re reading Robin DiAngelo’s book, White Fragility. We’re waking up to the fact that racism hurts everyone, even white folx. We’re learning that silence is complicity. If we don’t speak out against racism and white supremacy, we’re helping to hold up the system.
What gives me the most hope these days that we might see real change? I am hearing the voices of white men in support of their Black and Brown brothers and sisters. I want to say thank you. And I want to ask more of you to speak up.

It’s time to change the power paradigm from fear to Love. The current, patriarchal power paradigm is rooted in the lie of scarcity, based in fear. This paradigm creates an inequitable dynamic. I can only gain power if I take it from someone else. It’s an externally referenced power, which will never feel like it’s enough. It creates a false zero-sum game.

To shift the power paradigm to one based on Love, we have to recognize that there’s plenty of power for everyone. We have to look within ourselves to find the kind of power that nobody can ever take from us. We have to find our sovereignty—an internally referenced form of power.

This allows us to play what Simon Sinek refers to as an “Infinite Game.” As Sinek writes:

Simply put: The responsibility of business is to use its will and resources to advance a cause greater than itself, protect the people and places in which it operates and generate more resources so that it can continue doing all those things for as long as possible.

Remember: business is the sum of its leadership. I’d argue that each individual bears this same responsibility.

Racism hurts everyone. The system of white supremacy that we’re swimming in is deeply damaging to each and every one of us. Even those who hold the most privilege: white, cis-gendered, straight, attractive men, are profoundly harmed by this system. One example: you have to really struggle to learn how to express the full range of your emotions. Unexpressed emotions cause physical damage and disease.

So please, I beg of you: speak up. Speak out against racism. Speak out against the senseless murders of your Black brothers by the police. Educate yourself. Start by reading one or both of the books referenced above. Work with an anti-racist educator. Dismantle your privilege, it will make you a better man.

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