OVER-EXPLOITED. NOT UNDER-DEVELOPED.
PERSPECTIVE SHIFT //
What if, instead of thinking that you’ve been under-performing or under-achieving, you believe instead that you’ve been under-served, under-seen, and under-heard?
WHAT IF WE UNDERSTOOD THAT THAT WE HAVE BEEN EXCLUDED FROM SYSTEMS OF HEALTHCARE, AND EDUCATION?
PERSPECTIVE MATTERS // What if racialized youth receive messaging that our system of healthcare and education has excluded them, rather than growing up to believe that they are underperforming?
PERSPECTIVE MATTERS // What if we understood that the countries where our parents and ancestors originated were over-exploited. Not under-developed.
LANGUAGE MATTERS // You either believe one of two things - that individuals who haven’t attained positions of leadership, high-level financial wealth or an opportunity for higher education, are incapable, less-smart, lazy, have a lower work ethic >>> or, you believe that systemic barriers and policies exist to hold these very same individuals in positions where forward movement is almost impossible.
LANGUAGE MATTERS // Building an antiracist and anti-oppression lens involves shifting accountability to those in positions of white privilege to carry the burden of responsibility for the truth that we have been living within a system designed to support whiteness.
Folks of the GLOBAL MAJORITY (aka: Black + Brown persons) have been EXCLUDED + PUSHED OUT of the structures of society. We have been UNDERESTIMATED + UNDERAPPRECIATED + UNDER-INVESTED-IN + UNDER-REPRESENTED + UNDER-VALUED + UNDER-SERVED. this is the system.
Our families are not under-achieving.
Once we understand the TRUTH about the system, we can begin to change (aka: tear down) the system.
This matters. We can only achieve what we believe is possible for us.
Check out Arlan Hamilton for deep inspiration on moving forward after a lifetime of being underestimated. Arlan Hamilton was homeless when she founded backstage capital for over-looked entrepreneurs.