Unapologetically Black, Unabashedly Christian 🙏

Jun 27, 2018

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#WednesdayWisdom

"i give myself permission to take up space. i give myself permission to stand in my truth. i give myself permission to radically love myself. i give myself permission to move through the world freely. i give myself permission to own my power. i give myself permission to show up." — alexendra elle

Morning Musings

One of the things I love most about OneGoal, besides our deep commitment to diversity and inclusion, is our ability to "say the thing."

During our Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, otherwise known as CRP, Summit in Boston this spring, I noticed my coworkers' propensity for "naming the thing" or "saying the thing." You know, that awkward elephant in the room everyone is aware of, but no one mentions. Yeah, we confront that awkwardness or uncomfortableness head on about seemingly everything but religion and faith.

Until now.

Last week, I attended our second People's Supper session facilitated by two of my brilliant colleagues. These suppers, made famous in part thanks to the Obama Foundation, are intended to "build community through conversation."

You can talk about whatever topic you like, but for the purposes of our gathering, we chose faith and religion. The first guided question asked guests to reflect on the first time they were made aware of their faith.

For me, it was kneeling beside the bed praying with my grandma before bedtime. "Now I lay me down to sleep ..." With the exception of daycare, I attended Catholic school my entire educational career -- from kindergarten until college. And while I am not Catholic, I can recite the sayings from Mass with the best of them.

The next question is the one that punched me in the gut. My colleague asked, "What do you wish people knew about you and your faith?"

I blurted out, "That I have one. That I'm a Christian." I know I can come across as this hardcore liberal feminist, but I'm a Christian, too. You can be both.

I think our society has gotten so politically correct that I steered away from even mentioning religion unless someone else brought it up, essentially downplaying this major part of who I am and how I move in the world.

In closing, the facilitators asked us what we would do moving forward to change the culture at our organization to be more inclusive of all faiths? Borrowing a phrase from one of other coworkers, I smiled and said "I promise to be unapologetically Black and unabashedly Christian."

Since then, I've gone to church with my husband (in real life, not just watching the livestream from the comfort of my sofa); started a virtual prayer group/Bible study with my Sister Circle and talked to another coworker about relaunching the Christian Affinity Group.

Now this isn't to say I'm going to start beating everyone over the head with my faith, but rather I'm not going to dismiss or downplay it moving forward. This is simply who I am.

Love,
L'Oreal

IRL

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