The frontline communities that I worked in in Detroit, they can’t go outside because the fumes are too strong. But that same neighborhood, a cop could run up and shoot them. They’re not experiencing these problems separately. And so when you think about it in that way, police violence is another environmental factor that makes the places, the physical environment that Black and Brown communities live in, unsafe and unjust.

Those who pursue the truth are members of the community of truth-seekers and reformers throughout time and space. They do not resign themselves to a collective fate that offers no laurels.”

—Thich Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves

I believe that in most circumstances, doing race work in an integrated setting is harmful. This is not a popular belief, especially among white people. I have been challenged on this time and again, and I keep showing up for these conversations in mixed-race settings and breaking down from the pain of it all.