Cristin McCarthy Vahey

This is a time of national discomfort and though it may sound strange, I am grateful for that. As I tell my children often, all growth is painful. Now is a moment when we have an opportunity to grow and change.

Yesterday, I participated in a forum organized by our First Selectwoman and I wanted to share some of my thoughts and words from that forum.

As we gather, some of the words and phrases that come to mind as we face this moment are:

• Humility
• Listening
• Connection
• Compassion
• Outrage
• Meaningful, sustainable change
• No more lip service
• Unspeakable grief
• Vulnerability
• Withstanding criticism and accepting it
• Taking responsibility
• Holding people’s pain
• Systemic, unacknowledged racism

Today is not really a conversation. It IS a chance for us to hear. I have been privileged to be a part of some of our past community conversations, and I will continue to engage in meaningful sharing. But I want to do more than that. I want us to address the glaring inequality for people of color. I want to build the relationships and systems needed to address the impact of racism.
 
Yesterday, I heard legislative colleagues talk about the need to raise up the voices of people of color in our communities not just one day, but every day. One legislator said that when white people ask him what they can do, he tells them, “You can get behind me.”
 
I will never know what it is like to be a black woman. To experience the racism that is part of everyday life in one of the most segregated states with some of the largest educational achievement gaps in the nation. But I can get behind black leaders and I can lift up the voice of the black community.
 
Author James Baldwin, a poet and a prophet, ends his book, The Fire Next Time with these words:

"Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise. If we-and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others – do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world. If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in a song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!"

There were other words I shared at the end of the forum, which you can watch on Fair TV. This was one event, but I intend to continue to work to address racism within myself and throughout our community. Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you want to discuss your response to this moment - your reactions, ideas, outrage, fear, frustration, any of it.

• Phase 2 businesses include:
  • Amusement parks
  • Hotels / Lodging
  • Restaurants
    • Available in Spanish
  • Indoor Museums, zoos, and aquariums
  • Indoor recreation (bowling, movie theaters)
    • Available in Spanish
  • Libraries
  • Outdoor events
  • Personal services (nail salons, massage parlors, tattoo parlors, etc.)
  • Sports and fitness facilities (gyms, fitness centers, pools, etc.)
    • Available in Spanish
• Phase 2 begins on June 17, this upcoming Wednesday
• Businesses reopening must self-certify prior to opening. Businesses that self-certified during Phase 1 will NOT need to certify again during Phase 2.

Find more info here.