It is shocking and yet too familiar.
Since the brutal killing of George Floyd a week ago, we’ve all been thinking, feeling, reflecting, searching for meaning, and reaching for how to make things right in a time that feels so challenged. It can seem no response is enough. We, with all of you, are grieving with his family and longing for justice.
As you read this, we are living this moment – one that will appear in our grandchildren’s history books – together. We are grappling with the same questions: Why is the world still like this? How can we make it better for our children? How can we raise our children and transform this world into one where Black Lives Flourish?
Of course we don’t have all the answers, but we know young people are a critical part of writing our country’s new story. As they explore the world, young people push back against injustice, challenge the status quo, and generate optimism. Working together, youth create tremendous change. They believe that they can because their dreams are bigger than any of us can imagine. They’ve got this. You can help.
Here are some ideas of what you can do to support your children:
- Talk to them about race, equity, and justice. Start with what they observe and experience around them. Give them opportunities to dream and explore what they imagine could become.
- Teach them how to share their ideas, collaborate with others, and inspire change.
- Encourage them to write, draw, and record their stories and dreams. Share them with us at SteppingStone, because we exist to amplify the voice, experiences, and diverse stories of our youth.
Here are a few resources to help you talk with your children:
The status quo of inequity, violence, and injustice needs to change. What we do now and what we teach our children will create that change. Let’s grieve together, take care of one another, talk about the things we don’t want to talk about, and be the people who make this injustice STOP.
As we move forward in the coming days, weeks, and months, we have a question for us all to hold in our hearts: when your children and grandchildren ask you what you did at this crucial moment, in response to the killing of George Floyd, what do you want to be able to tell them?
