Hello FosterStrong community,
I just wanted to write a quick something in regards to an incident that happened. Someone by the name of George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis and it’s possible you have heard the stories, and have a series of emotions and thoughts on that. There are some who identify as black/African-American who are particularly grieved, and likely feeling a swirl of questions and emotions. I am not here to go into detail about the matter in Minneapolis, but acknowledge the space you need to feel the feelings in regards to this and cope appropriately.
I have stories, experiences, trials, etc as it connects to racial injustice...I have had my voice shut out because I am...any name that is not my birth name.
I found myself making decisions for myself to refrain from front line protesting, or finding myself followed by a police officer for long time where only God came through....by the way, in San Diego! I have had way more intense interactions with police than I care to mention here!
So if others likely won’t automatically have that same experience, then I am so excited to see how much more folks who feel they can, advocate for change, especially those who have more of the privilege to do so!💜
Unity and harmony are both crucial parts towards reconciliation. As a good friend shared with me, music tells the analogy of harmony quite nicely. When musicians come together, just the wide spectrum of exquisite sounds that come from harmonies, both instrumentally and musically, from melodies, 3rd and 5th harmonies, diminished chords, majors, minors, and octaves, create such an incredible, complex, and collective sound that connects deeper than just playing the same uniformed chords in the same octave.
Such is the case on these topics of racial injustice: we must enjoy the tension and the beautiful harmony of us, and hold dear with compassion the experiences of those whose stories that may be triggering, shocking, and intensely unjust, and sometimes, hard to look at for variety of personal reasons. And yet, we can love so well without living in denial, but listening intentionally to those narratives, grieve with one another, and actively seeking practical change together. Please contend for the hope and future that change is gonna come 🖤I love you all and I hope you all are doing well in the best way you know how. Feel free to e-mail me here, sharing your thoughts and the ways you try to be authentically you and cope through these trying times.
~ Tasha Matthews
RESOURCES
Teen Vogue:Hope to Cope with Race Based Trauma
Implicit Bias Tests(take the one on “Race” to start) by Harvard University
Shinecreated a new resources on how anxiety impacts your emotions, your finances, and your relational health, and ways to manage it
Here are a few phone apps that might help when feeling anxious:
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