We're in this together...

All of us, myself included, are bombarded for request for donations. It’s exhausting and unpleasant, I know. I know non-profit executives who love raising money. I’m not one of them. I can’t honestly even say I enjoy this work. But I have been unable to ignore the direction our country – and many of our so-called “leaders”- have taken.

When I retired in 2013 from a career as a Federal Park Ranger I wanted to camp and hike and bike and amuse fish. But over the years, even as I heard people extol how far we’ve come in moving the dial towards racial harmony and equity and the full Promise of America - and in many ways we have – it has been impossible to not notice how much we’ve slid back or how slowly we’ve moved forward in righting a 403 year old wrong that never should have happened in the first place. A wrong that continues to devastate this country.

“This is all about race.” Yesterday the founder of the Oath Keepers and his lieutenant, who tried valiantly to disrupt our democracy and overturn the will of the American people, was found guilty of seditious conspiracy. The charge of seditious conspiracy is defined as two or more persons conspiring to “overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force” the federal government, to levy war against the United States or to oppose the federal government’s authority by force.

A few months ago, while being questioned by the Congressional January 6th Committee, Jason Van Tatenhove, former longtime spokesperson for the Oath Keepers described at the January 6 hearings how he witnessed an embrace of “straight up racism” within the Oath Keepers. “This is all about race” he claimed in speaking about the January 6th attempt to overthrow our democracy. It’s at the core of so much of the hate and disruption that we all see all around us.

America’s thing with race is deeply embedded into the foundation of this country and it harms so much of what Americans want America to be. So much of what all of us want to achieve is perched on that crumbling foundation.

But we can change it. We can absolutely shore up that foundation. There is much that we can do. We can first become more aware….more educated. We can become more curious. We can learn how it affects us and the entire country. We can call out racism where we see it – civilly. We can let our elected representatives know that this is an important issue. We can know who we are voting for from our national elections to our local school board, prosecutors, sheriffs, and judges.

We can be that person who goes to the zoning commission meetings and supports affordable housing – even in our own backyards.

You can support organizations – organizations like us - The Civil Conversations Project – who are out on the front lines every day. Educating, writing, speaking, partnering, developing programs and tools that enable more people to become agents of change, and keeping our own house stable and strong so that we’re still here doing the work in five years.

I am not without hope. A few week ago so many people running on a platform of bending the electorate’s will to their own were disavowed by voters of both parties. BOTH parties. Yesterday’s court proceedings, along with many other recent events have shown that our democracy is still here. It still works.

We have had a very generous donor who has pledged up to $10,000 dollars to match any donations that come in through the end of December. I’m asking you, please support our work. Donate today.

Many thanks,

Wayne