Hi Kaylon…Not knowing you, I can’t decode your “knowing what I mean” but I can enage with you in “not joining the race wars.” My work is about turning us and them into We. #GettingToWe is a hashtag I frequently use and have a vibrant, engaged Getting To We readers and colleagues with thousands in the community.

When I led a graduate diversity management program, the faculty put this quote on the student’s journal…”Someone who knows, does not act like someone who doesn’t know.” We supported all of us in the learning community as working on knowing. I often say that working on equity and inclusion will be something I will need to keep learning about even six months after I am in the grave. I also think of knowing as Glennon Doyle talks about Knowing and really resonated with how it was used in her book Untamed.

My White friends get this and those who have read my book, Some of My Friends Are…know that the learning is bidirectional and have read about incidents which I have shared where these White friends have kept me in check about what Whiteness. means. When friends across racial lines are committed to each other’s personal and professional growth as well as racial equity it is a powerful force for good.

Having a collective understanding of what constitutes racism is key to meaningful conversations and most do not have an full or shared understanding of structural, systemic, interpersonal, and modern forms of racism as interlocking systems with floating boundaries. Without this shared understanding, it inhibits having meaningful and forward-mvoing conversations. In an 800-word essay, everything can’t be unbundled but wanted to make sure my meaning was clarified.

Thanks for your comment even if I don’t fully understand what your “know what I mean,” means!