I’m a white woman. I am the mother of a black man.

One of my colleagues spoke to me about this past week’s events twice during the week (she’s black), expressing empathy for what *I* must be feeling…and I spoke to another colleague (also black) to do the same.

On Friday, I spoke out to my almost all-white team. I know I made a couple of colleagues uncomfortable. I spoke of how advances in technology have changed our understanding of police brutality, particularly police brutality against unarmed black men. It’s always been there, but with the advent of cell phone cameras, it is there for the world to see, to acknowledge.

I will keep speaking out. Not only because, yes, every single time it happens, I think…”that could be my son”, but because it’s the right thing to do.

Last week shook my faith. My faith that we CAN change. It was the empathy of my black colleagues that buoyed me.