All week I’ve been trying to figure out what to write. While waiting for the verdict in the Chauvin case, we found out Daunte Wright was killed and before the end of the week, Chicago released video of Adam Toledo, a thirteen year old, being shot in the chest. It’s been a lot. I’ve oscillated between escapism and obsession, but never quite stop digging for words to explain, express, do… something. Anything.
Austin, I don’t have the gift of putting together words like you do, so I simply say Thank You for sharing your heart in these words. I am so sorry for the exhaustion and all that has made it so. I hear you. I will make my voice louder so yours can rest for a while.
I cannot imagine the emotional toil of being a person of color in this horribly messed up country. Just reading this is so painfully gut wrenching—writing it and reposting it all must have been downright traumatic. Please rest and find joy however you can for as long as you need. You are so loved and valued. ❤️
This is one that of the best articles on Racism that I have read. Please continue to reach out to our whiteness to understand and change .You are my brothers and sisters and Gods children. I hope that I live a life that shows this.
It’s relentless and reading this essay really captures just how exhausting the journey has been. It validated the feeling that we’ve all been shouting at a wall or into a cave. Thank you.
Thank you Austin for working past exhaustion. Thank you for continuing to write when your entire being is wracked with grief. Thank you for writing when it seemed like only people of color were listening and the rest of the world fell silent. Thank you for continuing to write and speak when your job was on the line. Thank you for not stopping when you were threatened, when your life was on the line. Thank you for not agreeing with friends or family who suggested you quit or take a break from educating white people who seemed to not even care. Thank you for using your gift with words to beautifully, brutally and necessarily show us what it feels like to go through life in a body of color. I know that you shouldn’t have to represent entire populations to educate me and others. Thank you for praying for us when we don’t deserve another thought.
I will never truly understand how it feels to be in your body and to see with your eyes. I will continue to share your words with those who are tired of the subject. I will ask those who make polite comments about the good man Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to try harder all the other days of the year. I will boldly enter my spaces and speak up when it feels uncomfortable. I will tell others it is time to listen and I will point to you and others who have written so much that we need to hear. I will ask others to join together and start to make a difference in their community because that is how change can happen. I will watch you show me how to not quit and give up when others are. I will keep going because it is time for me to work harder so that you and others can one day find rest because we are all finally speaking out, showing up and listening.
Good morning from Australia Austin. I pray through the psalms today for you and your sisters and brothers. Thank you for allowing us to shed tears with you. I pray for you through Psalm 120 and Psalm 123 and close with Psalm 121. I pray for solace and comfort through the Spirit and praise God for your righteous words and call to justice. Love in Christ, Janet 💜🙏💜
Thank you for sharing so openly. Reading this does feel like one brick being piled on top of another. How to move a mountain that has been piled so high?
Your right Austin the Christian church needs to be ashamed, to repent and sit in sackcloth and ashes. Thank you for sharing all your feelings. Thank you. I'm sorry for not being aware, for turning a blind eye, for enabling harm to be done. I repent. I'm here with you in spirit. I'm here to listen and make space for you to express anger, rage, grief, trauma and frustration. I'm here to make space for you. To listen. To empathize. I'm working on educating my white church, my white friends and supporting my black friends, my indigenous friends, all people of colour. I won't turn a blind eye. I'm working and praying for justice. For wrongs to be made right.
Thank you so much for digging deep, even when every day is on fire. The relentlessness of your paragraphs in this post evoke so much emotion, and yet I know it's just a tiny fraction of the horrifying relentlessness of all this brutality (and the vitriol, gaslighting, dismissal, devils advocate, etc). I appreciate you so much.
Thank you for that! This weekend, I am participating in the Revolutionary Love conference with Middle Collegiate in NYC...I hope you know of this group. They are our people! Anyways, the conference is about reimagining our world. For me, I am reimagining that us white people will own this fight so that Black folx can begin to heal for what our supremacy has done to you. We (white people)have got to begin to heal the whiteness that has destroyed our souls and allowed us to accept the unacceptable. Peace and Mercy to you, Austin.
Thank you, Austin, for your beautiful life and for your courageous words and for your amazing strength and for your perseverance in your redeeming work. I thank the Creator of all that is for you. 💝 You are a gift.
I’m a new subscriber because I want to support your work. I believe you. You matter. Your work is honoring to God. This exploration of the last decade reminded me of the concept you talk about in your book-living in the shadow of hope.
Austin, I don’t have the gift of putting together words like you do, so I simply say Thank You for sharing your heart in these words. I am so sorry for the exhaustion and all that has made it so. I hear you. I will make my voice louder so yours can rest for a while.
I cannot imagine the emotional toil of being a person of color in this horribly messed up country. Just reading this is so painfully gut wrenching—writing it and reposting it all must have been downright traumatic. Please rest and find joy however you can for as long as you need. You are so loved and valued. ❤️
This is one that of the best articles on Racism that I have read. Please continue to reach out to our whiteness to understand and change .You are my brothers and sisters and Gods children. I hope that I live a life that shows this.
It’s relentless and reading this essay really captures just how exhausting the journey has been. It validated the feeling that we’ve all been shouting at a wall or into a cave. Thank you.
Thank you Austin for working past exhaustion. Thank you for continuing to write when your entire being is wracked with grief. Thank you for writing when it seemed like only people of color were listening and the rest of the world fell silent. Thank you for continuing to write and speak when your job was on the line. Thank you for not stopping when you were threatened, when your life was on the line. Thank you for not agreeing with friends or family who suggested you quit or take a break from educating white people who seemed to not even care. Thank you for using your gift with words to beautifully, brutally and necessarily show us what it feels like to go through life in a body of color. I know that you shouldn’t have to represent entire populations to educate me and others. Thank you for praying for us when we don’t deserve another thought.
I will never truly understand how it feels to be in your body and to see with your eyes. I will continue to share your words with those who are tired of the subject. I will ask those who make polite comments about the good man Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to try harder all the other days of the year. I will boldly enter my spaces and speak up when it feels uncomfortable. I will tell others it is time to listen and I will point to you and others who have written so much that we need to hear. I will ask others to join together and start to make a difference in their community because that is how change can happen. I will watch you show me how to not quit and give up when others are. I will keep going because it is time for me to work harder so that you and others can one day find rest because we are all finally speaking out, showing up and listening.
Thank you.
Good morning from Australia Austin. I pray through the psalms today for you and your sisters and brothers. Thank you for allowing us to shed tears with you. I pray for you through Psalm 120 and Psalm 123 and close with Psalm 121. I pray for solace and comfort through the Spirit and praise God for your righteous words and call to justice. Love in Christ, Janet 💜🙏💜
Thank you for sharing so openly. Reading this does feel like one brick being piled on top of another. How to move a mountain that has been piled so high?
Perhaps law enforcement needs a ban on all weapons that are not tasers. I weep for the black dead from police force toxicity.
Your right Austin the Christian church needs to be ashamed, to repent and sit in sackcloth and ashes. Thank you for sharing all your feelings. Thank you. I'm sorry for not being aware, for turning a blind eye, for enabling harm to be done. I repent. I'm here with you in spirit. I'm here to listen and make space for you to express anger, rage, grief, trauma and frustration. I'm here to make space for you. To listen. To empathize. I'm working on educating my white church, my white friends and supporting my black friends, my indigenous friends, all people of colour. I won't turn a blind eye. I'm working and praying for justice. For wrongs to be made right.
Exhaustion. I say it all the time, I don't know how the civil rights leaders of the past did it. Sustained it. Ugh. That is all I have right now. Ugh.
Thank you so much for digging deep, even when every day is on fire. The relentlessness of your paragraphs in this post evoke so much emotion, and yet I know it's just a tiny fraction of the horrifying relentlessness of all this brutality (and the vitriol, gaslighting, dismissal, devils advocate, etc). I appreciate you so much.
Thank you for that! This weekend, I am participating in the Revolutionary Love conference with Middle Collegiate in NYC...I hope you know of this group. They are our people! Anyways, the conference is about reimagining our world. For me, I am reimagining that us white people will own this fight so that Black folx can begin to heal for what our supremacy has done to you. We (white people)have got to begin to heal the whiteness that has destroyed our souls and allowed us to accept the unacceptable. Peace and Mercy to you, Austin.
Thank you, Austin, for your beautiful life and for your courageous words and for your amazing strength and for your perseverance in your redeeming work. I thank the Creator of all that is for you. 💝 You are a gift.
Thank you.
I’m a new subscriber because I want to support your work. I believe you. You matter. Your work is honoring to God. This exploration of the last decade reminded me of the concept you talk about in your book-living in the shadow of hope.
Oh the "collective weight". I'm so sorry for all your pain and yet grateful that you write. Thank you. It's so so sobering.