Your “Only Black Friend” Speaks

This morning, I woke up with the question in my head, “How can I be the greatest contribution to the world today?”

I know that for some, that might sound like a big question and extremely ambitious. Who am I to think that I am going to be a contribution to the world today?

But the reality is that EACH OF US IS A CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNIVERSE ALL DAY EVERYDAY to the degree that we give or hold back what life has given us the capacity to offer. The question only is whether we are contributing consciously or not. And as much as I can, I do my best to contribute consciously without too much attachment to what it looks like or what the outcome is. My only goal is to give the day everything I have and trust that the DIVINE ORDER will makes sure what I put out hits its marks.

Well today, it hit me to do a livestream on my Substack called, “Your Only Black Friend Speaks”.

But the livestream wasn’t just for me to answer questions because some folks don’t have anyone to ask questions to. Instead, I was naming the realities of many “Only Black Friends” like Nolan X. Wells and Jerard Jackson, both of whom mysteriously lost their lives after being the “Only Black Friend” among “White Friends”.

I am going to be real about what I feel and I know what I share will not sit well with some folks. But, LIFE has equipped me to name this tension. So, I would be a thief if I didn’t try.

This livestream was not just for white people who have 0-1 Black friend. In fact, it is probably more for Black people who have been the “Only Black Friend” as well as any other “Only” who has to navigate the very complex world of racialized society. And most of all, it is for parents who are raising children in majority white spaces who aren’t afraid to face these realities–whether those parents are raising Black kids, some other race or nationality, or white children.

Because, all of our children will have a much more difficult time navigating these environments if we don’t do our parts to prepare them for the world we’re actually co-experiencing and co-creating.

This is an experiment. I don’t have an agenda other than to be as real as I can and invite folks to open their hearts.

And now that I have the ability to connect Zoom to Substack, I will be sharing a lot more content that offers practical ways to confront some of the systemic issues that are holding a bunch of us back from the deeper realities of who we are capable of becoming.