Maintaining Momentum

Hello my dears, 

As you know, I have a complicated relationship with social media.  I mean, the whole point of my business is to support you to nurture your off-screen wellbeing!  

Yet, over the past few weeks I have learned so much from thinkers like Nicole Pearson, Sonya Renee Taylor, and Ijeoma Oluo who have challenged me to more deeply interrogate systemic racism and my responsibility to dismantle it.  

There is no denying that social media has been a major catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, and for that I am deeply grateful.  
 
At the same time, I am concerned about the powerful corporate interests working tirelessly to keep us addicted to their products, and the racism, sexism and other biases imbedded in digital platforms --platforms that are overwhelmingly created and maintained by White men.  (To learn more about this, I urge you to read Safiya Umoja Noble’s book Algorithms of Oppression.) 

The very nature of social media is that topics “trend” and then fade over time.  What will we do when Black Lives Matter is no longer front and center on social media?  

Are we following Black leaders, activists and thinkers to stay engaged for the long term?  The brilliant Ijeoma Oluo warns us to “be wary of things that are purely symbolic" and anything that allows you to do something that isn’t actually felt by people of color.

She says: "I always ask myself when I’m trying to do solidarity work, can the people I’m in solidarity with actually feel this? Can they spend this? Can they eat this? Does this actually help them in any way? And if it doesn’t, let it go."

One of the dangers of social media is that our actions on it are often purely symbolic.

I am not personally saying that agents of oppression should not demonstrate accountability to, and solidarity with targets of oppression on social media.  But is can’t stop there. We must make a regular commitment to inquiry and action, even after social media reminds us to do so. I think White America is waking up to this.  I sure am.

It’s been a struggle to figure out the right time to jump back in to promoting my own work.  I do not want to fall into a trap of using anti-racism as a marketing tool and also do not want to ignore the urgency in this present moment.  But dismantling institutional racism is a marathon, not a sprint.  It needs to be integrated into our lives along with our work, relationships, hobbies, leisure and spiritual practices.  

So, I’m going to do my best to balance both.  Scroll down to learn more about my upcoming offerings. My work always encourages discussions of digital racism and 10% of the proceeds will go to support BIPOC liberation causes.

Much Love,
Christina

P.S. If you’ve read this far, thank you! I invite you to join my mailing list for occasional musings and updates on retreats and events. I won't spam you, or share your data. Let's start supporting small businesses on platforms they own!