A personal message from Rachael Taylor

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Hello lovely

As someone who teaches 1000’s across the globe I wanted to speak out with a more personal message. Like many, & as a white person of privilege, I do not feel I have enough experience or knowledge to even begin to know the right thing to say & I can’t even begin to imagine what it is like to live in fear of things I take for granted but I do know that just being non-racist & saying nothing is not a good thing & we need to show solidarity if things are ever going to change. We cannot let this continue & I am truly sorry for all this sadness!

I want my community & others in the world to know I am with them & I will support them, celebrate them & will try to do better, ask questions, listen and see how myself & my companies can show up, help, communicate & make voices be heard louder.

I am learning, I have a big heart & I may be small in the grand scheme of things but I’ve always stood up for myself & challenged those who do wrong. For those who know me well they have witnessed me being fierce & damn right mighty when I put my mind to it. Now it’s my turn to try & help others.

I feel truly ashamed that I didn’t realise that racism still impacts this badly on our world & that it’s never actually gone away, as a white person I have definitely been living in a bubble & I’m angry at myself for that.

What I will say is the diversity of culture & ethnicities in my community is what makes it the wonderful place it is, I embrace everyone with open arms & all of my community are so wonderful & I feel so lucky to have such a safe platform & I will never accept any form of racism. All of the community continue to inspire me daily but I should have paid closer attention & noticed what was going on & realised how many of our amazing creative community face ongoing hardships just because of the colour of their skin. I will show up & try to understand my black, & people of colour friends more, & try to learn from them.

A long message & I’ve probably not articulated this well so forgive me if I’ve not used the right words but just know my heart is in the right place & please also know as an anti-racist I will be taking action.

Below I have listed resources that I have found shared by our community. This is by no means the extent of what can be found & the ways to help and I would highly advise you doing your own research on resources & sharing them with our community. I encourage you all to have healthy & friendly discourse.

I also kindly request that you reach out to me & Kelly via [email protected] or [email protected] or tag us on social media & share any resources you think are valuable for us all to be aware of.

Donate to:

Text FLOYD to 55156

Black Lives Matter / Minnesota Freedom Fund / Justice For Breonna Taylor / George Floyd’s family / Ahmaud Arbery’s family / Black Immigrant Collective / Reclaim The Block / Black Visions Collective / LDF

Sign these petitions:

Black Lives Matter / Justice For Breonna Taylor / Justice For George Floyd / Justice For Tony McDade / Hands Up Act

Support black-owned businesses:

181 Places to Start Online (US)

Further reading:

Ways to help / Books on anti-racism by Ideal Bookshelf  / For Our White Friends Desiring To Be Allies By Courtney Ariel  / The African American Policy Forum / Beyond the Hashtag: How to Take Anti-Racist Action in Your Life / White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo / I’m Not Being Racist, But.. by K. Lee / Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi / How to Be Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi / The 1619 Project essays from the NY Times / Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem / Evicted by Matthew Desmond / So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Further watching:

Documentary Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible / When They See Us by @avaduvernay on Netflix

Further listening:

That’s Not How That Works, Good Ancestors podcast / @intersectionalitymatters podcast / @novareidofficial podcast

Follow on Instagram:

@beabridgebuilder / @blackcoffeewithwhitefriends / @blackfairygodmother / @blackvisionscollective / @chicoryzine / @ckyourprivliege / @deecedwards / @dr.thema / @grassrootslaw / @iamrachelricketts / @ibramxk / @laylafsaad / @mireillecharper / @mnfreedomfund / @moemotivate / @nedratawwab / @nowhitesaviors / @novareidofficial / @privtoprog / @rachel.cargle / @reclaimtheblock / @renieddolodge / @resmaamenakem / @showingupforracialjustice / @sincerely.lettie / @theconsciouskidis / @thegreatunlearn / @thelovelandfoundation / @unitedstreettours

There are so many more ways to help than what has been listed so please do what you can, don’t stay silent, inform yourself & your friends and family & know that I’m sending you love & support. Be safe, be kind.

Love Rachael

xoxoxo