In his video series “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man,” Fox Sports analyst and former NFL player Emmanuel Acho read a letter from a white woman who grew up during the 1940s. She wrote that racism was embedded in her experience growing up, but now she has been listening and is still learning. She asked that Acho and others "not give up" on people like her, adding, "I'm awake now and determined to wake others up." When I shared the video with a group of older adults residing in a continuing care retirement community, some of them acknowledged that the letter could have easily been written by them.
I have the privilege of working with adults ranging in age from their 60s to over 100. They have taken part in diversity trainings, lectures, and other programs, including two trips to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. While COVID-19 has kept many of them isolated from one another for everyone's health and safety, recent incidents of racial unrest and the ensuing protests have opened the door for us to engage with one another more deeply. Although this engagement occurs most often by phone or Zoom, and at times, socially-distanced and wearing masks, the interactions are happening. Conversations are taking place about race, privilege, difference, the messages about racism taught in childhood, and what we can do to make our community truly diverse and welcoming.
Residents have initiated several activities of their own including reading and discussing the poetry of African American poets, reading books by African American writers (including Ibram Kendi’s, How to be an Antiracist), hosting diversity-related lectures, and more. Every day, the residents show me that age truly is just a number and that our self-reflection and learning about diversity, equity and inclusion continue as long as we are open to the journey.