When Tommy (my husband) visited me in LA from PA for the first time, we went out with friends. One guy picked on him for being a Yankee & said the war of northern aggression was fought over property.

Tommy replied:

“Yes. The property was people. And the south lost. Thank God.”

I think that was the moment I knew that 1) Tommy was a good man, perhaps the best man I had ever met and 2) just how deep racism ran within the town in which I lived & among the people I spent time with.

We aren’t friends with that guy anymore, and I of course married Tommy.

I share this because so much is being discussed around what needs to change, what work must be done, & even how we arrived here.

Much of it begins with recognizing where we’ve seen racism all our lives & removing it from our social circles & within our own hearts.