Join Oliveyah and the Marin County Parks volunteer program in supporting the Tiburon Uplands Nature Preserve and get a complimentary workout with Oliveyah Fitness!
I experience racism all the time. Yes, in California, yes in the Bay Area, and yes, especially in Marin County. Sadly it has been something I have accepted and learned to adapt to. My grief the last few weeks stems from the realization of how much, over the course of my life, racism HAS actually affected me. My ability to disassociate with this trauma in my day to day is frightening to me and is why I have been feeling so much grief and sadness these last few weeks.
It’s all coming out. One soppy, messy tear at a time.
For most of my adult life I have focused on 'the bright side’ that my privileged, light complexion has afforded me. This privilege has often led me to be passive about racist issues that I experience on a day to day basis and the tragedies that my black community suffers from. In my desperate attempt to fit in and survive in this world I have betrayed myself and my black heritage. The age of silence is over. I’m done trying to fit into the mold of what society wants me to be. I need to do better. I need to do better for myself and for my daughter.
This has been my favorite quote that has come out of the Black Lives Matter movement because I think it helps to bridge the gap between white privilege and black lives. It is my hope and my ask that you too self-reflect on ways that your privilege has made you passive.
I am a black biracial woman, which often puts me in a place of privilege while at the same time I feel the generation pain, frustration and injustices from racism in this country.
This is my story… Please read with an open heart.
Our next event in on Sunday April 30th.
Oliveyah Fitness is partnering with the Marin County Parks to work towards restoring the wildlife habitat at Hal Brown Park at Creekside. Our focus for the day will be to eliminate invasive non-native grasses and weeds by burying them with layers of straw, cardboard, and mulch.
Tiburon Uplands Nature Preserve