There are a lot of reasons why putting me in the streets would make me a liability to the movement. Those of you who follow me probably know some; those who don't, it's not really important, just trust my self-assessment.

But what that doesn't do is let me off the hook for making change--meaningful, continuing, lasting change.

Everyone's skillset is different, everyone's resources are different in this moment. Mine are in institution evaluation and transformation. Mine are in the midrange.

Yes, I'm aiming at some long-range goals. But meanwhile: in the next week and the next month and the next year, how can you change the institutions where you hold power?

Damn near everyone has power somewhere.

This question is for white and NBPOC folks, although one of the answers is definitely "amplify and support whatever the Black people in your institution are asking for". But it's not their job to figure this out.

Where does your institution draw power from colonialist or white structures of power, white supremacist ideologies, white ways of knowing, whiteness-as-default? What can you do this week to change that? Dismantle that? Disrupt that?

And how will you support one another when the system pushes back? We know from systems theory that people behave weirdly in systems, and tend to support the status quo even if they say they don't. Systems like to keep doing what they have been doing.

So you need to set up your change with backup, from the beginning. Question, undo, decolonialize, resist the inertia in your organization. How will you start that, and who will support you? In what community do you find your values reflected, truly?