Shift: Opening My Heart to Receive
On Monday night (6/14/21), Dan and I attended a virtual racial justice event that was put on by members of the Baha’i community with special co-facilitators, youth ages 23-30 who were currently or previously affiliated with Michigan State University.
For some context, I had my 32 week ultrasound earlier in the day, ran errands, had lunch outside with a friend, I drove back to Detroit (while on hold attempting to clear up a mess - I was on hold for 50 min before speaking with someone at the company - insert all the emojis), and we had spent the weekend at my parents organizing and releasing things (aka throwing things away). To say I was exhausted would have been an understatement and that I was excited to get on yet another Zoom meeting would not have been accurate. To be honest, in some ways, I felt like I was at the end of my rope with dealing with poor customer service and accepting things that are unacceptable to me. And yet, I had made a commitment to my husband and I decided to keep it.
We enjoyed a fast dinner and then logged on about five minutes before 7pm EST. There was small talk (which is incredibly hard for me as an introvert) and then the presentation and real conversation and engagement began. The co-facilitators walked us through what they had been learning, in genuine and diverse community, over the last year. Listening to young people speak of how they were able to navigate difficult conversations about race, inclusion, and diversity virtually was encouraging. We had opportunities to speak in smaller groups via breakout rooms. While these two words didn’t come up specifically in our group, y’all know how I love to connect the dots, so I will share the things I hard folks’ conveying - a personal awakening after George Floyd’s murder on Monday, 5/25/20 and what they could do as change agents once they were more awake.
I often say that the youth will lead us out of this mess as long as they remain connected to elders which more lived experience than them. I felt this way while listening to Amanda Gorman at the Inauguration in January 2021. I feel this way when I have intellectual conversations with my incredibly bright, inquisitive, and thoughtful nephews. And I felt this way listening to and learning from youth about their last year doing racial justice work together.
Why am I sharing this? One reason, I couldn’t sleep at 5am (thank you pregnancy!) and thought about writing and a second more serious reason is because I needed to shift my mind so that I could open my heart. Once my heart was open, I was able to receive. As many of you know, I’m a small business owner and I have a thriving consulting firm, Chidimma Ozor Consulting, which is dedicated to coming alongside various entities like schools, churches, police departments, substance abuse treatment centers, and more with anti-racist, anti-oppressive, diversity, equity, and inclusion training, resources, and support. So it would be easy to lean into, “I already know this. I teach on this topic a lot whether through my consulting firm or because I’m invited to speak on panels.” And yet, it was honestly nice to lean into being a participant rather than a facilitator.
Sometimes I have to move out of the way and set aside what I think I know so that I can have a new experience and that is what occurred earlier this week. For that, I am grateful. The event was reinvigorating and I felt empowered to continue on this journey of revolutionary love. We hope you know how welcome you are to this community and that we are looking forward to learning alongside you all. We would love to have you join our Community Circles.
