Did you look away?

i finally got my partner to watch King Arthur Legend of the Sword with me. They scoffed, saying “EH it looks bad” but then they said, 

“Wow I don’t know if this is the best thing ever or the most ridiculous thing ever”

and honestly why can’t it be both? 

but the reason I tell you this- is because King Arthur is the perfect example of when we resist something- it keeps coming back to bite us harder and harder.

He resisted- and the mage asked him- Did you see everything you needed to see?

Did you look away?

Don’t get me wrong. 

I look away. We all look away. 

But that is the difference between a man and a king.” 

He looked away- but he had to start looking closer and closer.

Eventually he lost so much that he had to fight. And his story is our story.

We saw George Floyd’s death. Then we saw Breonna Taylor’s. Then we saw another, and another. And we couldn’t unsee it. 

We had to fight this year. 

So many people tried to tell us we were wrong for protesting. They tried to tell us we were wrong to criticize the government. They said we should just sit down and shut up. 

Even though it was hard- there was so much that came to light this year that we needed to see.

• We needed to see the deeply unequal nature of our sector. And this year it felt like we started to look at that. 

• We needed to have Black Lives center stage. Protestors worldwide stepped up and highlighted police brutality with a police brutality response. 

• We needed a climate wake up call. And we got that, with the entire west coast on fire. 

• We needed to see the depth of the brokenness in the ruling parties in the US. And sadly, we had this pandemic to highlight how broken the entire system is. 

You could take many of these things as evidence that our world is doomed.

OR.

You could take these things as evidence that we are waking up, and on the path to great change in this country.

Don’t get me wrong.

I look away.

We all look away.

But that is the difference between you in 2019 and you in 2020.

I resisted so hard that for months I could literally do nothing. I didn’t want to see how broken the sector was. But then I saw more and more and more suffering. And I knew I had to do SOMETHING.

So I picked up the sword and I put together the best online conference I have ever done. The New Power Fundraising Conference. With the help of sponsors like Bloomerang and the Veritus Group and 17 incredible women who spoke.

And I’ll put together The Party at the End of the Patriarchy Conference in March next year. 

But in the meantime- if you want to get together- and talk about what’s now and what’s next for you, I am here.