Good morning. It's Tuesday, July 21, and today's message comes from Mary Hall-Williams, co-organizer and co-creator of Blackout Healing.
Mary is also a student in the University of Washington’s anthropology department, conducting honors research on automatic and intentional coping mechanisms in response to Viral Black Death and racism.
"Stay engaged, and have some audacity," she says in her message today. "Have the audacity to show up where you are with what you have and to do something, anything, to retool your gifts and what you have in the service of change."
Later on, she adds: "And you are probably racist. There are a lot of dope Black women teaching antiracism workshops that you can attend, so do that."
Mary's work often centers around public speaking, organizing, spirituality, and community-based activism. She is also passionate about travel, pottery, writing, and giving back to her community.
In the past Mary has worked as a youth pastor at Damascus Missionary Baptist Church, in partnership with African American Reach and teach Health Ministry (AARTH), with youth-led homeless outreach and gardening and sustainability efforts, and most recently with Working Washington on initiatives for domestic workers rights.
Thank you for your message this morning, Mary, and for being real, and funny, and for everything you're doing in the community.
Good luck facing today's challenges, everyone.
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Previously in this series:
