Every time I have the privilege to write for our ezine, I’m always happy to reconnect to the many skills and tools that we teach, share and practice as coaches. As Coach Leaders I have always been proud of the role model I have tried to be, albeit, with some good days and lesser days. I treasure the work of coaching and training to impact coaches and quite frankly, influence a difference in others and the change that they make.

This month I am at a loss for words. I am speechless. I am sad. I am discouraged. I am depressed. I am angry. The events in our world beginning with a pandemic, that keeps growing without caring who we are, our positions, our age, our politics or anything else. I see all around me people tired of this isolation, just wanting to be done with it. Some seem to throw caution to the wind, go out and return to their normal lives and let what happens, happen. And if that is not enough…the heartbreak of how racism continues to dominate the behaviors of many, saddens my soul.

Having grown up in Louisiana, I remember being so embarrassed by the history of the KKK in our state. I thought, naively, that this type of murderous hatred was gone. My heart breaks and cries for the injustice of any human being. Racism not only still lives but appears to be thriving in 2020. I believe our country was founded on beliefs that there is justice for all, and that all men and women are created equal. Clearly not yet for everyone. How do we change the unconscionable actions still happening to people? What can I do?

In Education Week recently, I was moved by the article entitled, “But I’m Not a Protester, What Can I Do?” Like the author, I too get up many days and listen to the news and read what people have posted. Some make me so uncomfortable I just shut the app. How could a person I know say what I have just read? I must say something, I must speak up. I must do something!

In one of our seminars we teach the Stages of Change. I am realizing that I read, I think, but what am I doing to change moving forward? Am I stuck at the precontemplative stage of change?

So, what is my plan? First, I want to read for accurate information and facts, for perspective, for enlightenment. For schools, I want to read, Rethinking Schools. I want to read, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…and all the Rest of Y’all Too. For my world, to better understand, I want to read, White Fragility and Me and White Supremacy, Blind Spot, or some of the many books that will help me deepen in understanding. I want to have conversations with people in various minority groups, to better understand the world from their perspectives. I want to do what we profess in our work – I want to listen, to understand and to support positive change. I want to tear down my own walls of conscious unawareness, become more consciously competent about social injustice, and truly be a part of the change I so desperately want to see.

I want to have conversations about courageous leadership to ensure equal rights for all. How can we, as a country and as individuals, reconnect, reestablish, and agree on our basic core values? In many schools, examples of core values are:

• High standards of behavior, ethics, fairness and honestly with self and others.
• Do the right thing for the right reasons.
• Believe the best of others.
• Demonstrate fairness in judgments and action.
• Ensure a safe, risk free environment.
• Honor the values, rights, and diversity of all cultures.

How are we reevaluating and aligning our agreed upon core values to the schools we desire?

What are other ways we can be courageous leaders who pose the required on-going questions for change for a truly safe, respectful place of learning for all?

My hope is that anyone reading this is as ready to act on behalf of the rights of all human beings just as I am. As educators, we have each other and together we can, through our powerful conversations, begin the change we want to see. What actions will be yours? How will we all begin the change today?