Dear friend,
At Hollaback!, we have worked these past 15 years to change our culture, a culture that makes harassment and violence seem normal or okay. This week, we saw our worst nightmares come true as white supremacists and Neo-Nazis staged a coup in our nation’s Capitol building.
As we watched it happen, we couldn’t help but think about tear gas and rubber bullets that so quickly tore through this summer’s protests against the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. We knew in our hearts that if the capital was stormed by Black folks, it would have elicited a more extreme and deadly response. The contrast is stark, and it’s painful to watch.
We may not yet be able to recognize and process the collective trauma of this event, or of the past year of constant loss. But we must all recognize that none of this is normal, and we cannot pretend it is.
We can’t ignore our anxiety, fear, or grief.
We stand with you. We stand in solidarity with everyone who’s life was in danger in the Capitol building on January 6th. We stand in solidarity with the current and past activists that have sounded the alarm on the growth of the white supremacy in this country. And we stand in solidarity with everyone who has marched and protested to end structural racism in the last year, in the last decade, and in all the years before.
At Hollaback!, we work everyday to give folks the tools to address harassment in our daily lives, but we also know that to show up for others we have to show up for ourselves. This week we all witnessed an overt act of white supremacy in a building and at a ceremony representative of our democracy. That trauma cannot be ignored.
We want to support you as you face your feelings of fear or anxiety and practice resilience.
We are offering a free, public resilience training to respond to this incident, Resilience: This Moment and Beyond next week on Jan. 14th at 5 PM EST. Join us and sign up today.
You can also check out our free resource on resilience.
We will keep showing up for you, and we need you to keep showing for yourself, too.
With Resilience,
Team Hollaback!