I’ve been really struggling with trying to come up with something to say about all this. Anybody who knows me well knows that I adore Minneapolis. It’s one of my favorite cities and has meant a lot to me over the years, both personally and professionally 1/?

I keep trying to get wifey to go up there and see it with me one day, to see what I love about it. I was initially really skeptical about going there for work 8 or 9 years ago. I think it took me about 45 mins before I just fell in love with the place. 2/?

Some of my favorite folks to work with are up there in Minneapolis. I keep thinking about them and how they are doing. But, as much as I have joked about living there, I’ve always held myself back. For various reasons. My grandparents (just my grandma now), the timing, 3/?

Eventually meeting wifey who refuses to be cold again (and I have been there for the negative temperatures, right after one of the coldest games in NFL history where the Vikings should have beaten the Seahawks). I love Vikings fans. They are awesome fun 4/?

But one of the other things that kept me from moving up there is that there are not a ton of people that look like me. And it always disturbs me to be places where I can go days and not see folks that looks like me and that’s just the norm. 5/?

Then Philando Castile happened. And now George Floyd. In a blue state. In a very blue city. So I’m saying all of this to say that racial violence is pervasive. It is real. It can happen anywhere. Even (and especially) in blue states 6/?

I think a lot of liberals (especially white liberals) get complacent. Y’all assume everything is fine, and because you don’t see a lot of black people or other POC around you, you never have that worldview questioned. It seems fine to you, so it must be! 7/?

I see the same thing with my friends who live in Canada or the UK. They tisk tisk about US racial violence while overlooking the very glaring issues that they also face. And, again, since the voices of black people and POC are smaller, it’s never checked 8/?

I suppose what I’m saying in this ramble is that if you want to consider yourself a white ally, you gotta learn to actively seek out voices of black people and other POC in your lives. And get used to being the only white face in a place for once. 9/?

Listen. Be supportive. Donate. Do not over talk. Fight the urge to say “not all white people”. I assure you, we know. It’s self evident. Get used to being uncomfortable being in a minority position for once. If it feels weird, imagine how I feel every day. 10/?

And I know that, financially, Minneapolis will be fine. There’s no way those buildings and that property wasn’t insured. But folks want justice. They want accountability. And it is incumbent upon us all to bring that to fruition. /end