A Debt to Pay

I recently paid off a credit card that I have held a balance on since college. College!

Against my Grandfathers’ advice, I got a credit card my first year in college, and went crazy with all that “free money” (and the high interest rate that came with it!). That was over 30 years ago, and I have been trying since then to pay it off. I can’t put into words how good it feels to satisfy a debt. To pay back what I owed, and to be free from the burden of owing.

I tell this story because I (like many of you) have recently become aware of the debt I owe to my Black and Brown brothers and sisters. Unlike the credit card that I used to purchase big hair products and thong leotards, this debt was accrued by my parents, their parents, and their parents’ parents. This debt that has given me a privileged life, at the expense of millions who have suffered and struggled.

This debt has been a long time coming, and I am ready to begin paying back what I owe. I am beginning here with a “family meeting” offered to my Yoga Assets family, and now I offer these thoughts to you.

I am watching. I am reading. I am listening. I am learning how to be a better Ally from local BIPOC like Ashley Finley. I am speaking out, and standing for inclusion.

And I am VOTING.

Please join me in this conversation. If you are a white person learning to be a better ally, and doing the inner work of being a better human, I would love to see any resources you have found helpful. We are all in this together.