Posts by Rebecca Greenidge (she/her)

I get it. You’re sick of zoom and wish I’d offer something in-person. For those of you who are new around these parts, it might surprise you to hear that I used to think our liberation journey could only bear fruit when we were together, in person. In 2019 my business coach told me I…

Relief. In its many forms. I watched, listened, and smelled the first rain – hoping it’s enough to extinguish some of the fires. Jomo had set up a daily backup of our website (oh, how he keeps loving me from afar) so when it went down last week my sister knowingly took the reins from…

It was the rhythm that first caught my attention. drerp, drerp, drerp. [pause] drerp, drerp, drerp. [pause] drerp, drerp, drerp. I turned and became caught up in watching my cat drink from his water bowl. After every few licks, he would pause. Still completely in a ready-to-drink posture. Chin just above the water. I imagined…

You are the life bearers. Dreamers. Architects. Gatherers. Teachers. Organizers. Leaders. The substance of your yearning. Swollen within you. You endure pain. Crying out even when no one hears. You carry the weight of vision. And the burden of explanation. You accept the loneliness. No one can labor for you. You gather your midwives. Strength,…

Black death I am, what’s the word? I don’t know… Enraged Terrified Inconsolable Yep, all of those I hear of him Daunte Black joy Father Son Dreamer Lover Precious Wonderful Good Good Good And I think of him Jomo Black joy Father Son Dreamer Lover Precious Wonderful Good Good Good And I see him lying…

Hey white folks, can we talk? If you are on this Rachel Hollis bandwagon (or the next famous white person who offers us public evidence that the system of white dominance is, in fact, still alive and well), I have a few thoughts… How might our internalized superiority be showing up in our impulse to…

Came out of a store and found this cup. Broken. Alone. Sitting on the curb. When I peered inside, the broken pieces were collected at the bottom in a pool of sky sorrow. I was many moons younger when I learned about the Japanese tradition of wabi sabi – translated loosely as the beauty of…

On November 8th 1970, Jomo David Mungai Greenidge was the second of four children born to Henry Greenidge and Esther Whittingham of New York. Jomo was constantly on the move from his very first steps. For his parents, Jomo’s kinetic energy was easier to manage inside the confines of his family’s Bronx high-rise apartment, but…

  It is with the deepest sadness we are reaching out to share the devastating news that Jomo Greenidge passed unexpectedly last week. We are working to facilitate support for all current cohorts as we receive guidance from Rebecca. For now, please know that all cohort gatherings with Rebecca are being paused until further notice…

The past few days have been a whirlwind. The Coronavirus is sweeping through our communities like a silent thief. Endangering our most vulnerable. After finishing with one of our cohorts two nights ago, I made my routine call home to say I was on my way and Jomo shared that the NBA had shut down.…

The Challenge My amazing business coach invited us to a 5-day Share The Love Challenge. This was perfect timing as I’ve been working on a series of posts that will highlight a list of resources that have helped my understanding about race EMERGE. Come check out the first post in the Emerge Series for more…

The Challenge My amazing business coach invited us to a 5-day Share The Love Challenge. This was perfect timing as I’ve been working on a series of posts that will highlight a list of resources that have helped my understanding about race EMERGE. Come check out the first post in the Emerge Series for more…

The Challenge My amazing business coach invited us to a 5-day Share The Love Challenge. This was perfect timing as I’ve been working on a series of posts that will highlight a list of resources that have helped my understanding about race EMERGE. When I was 30, I studied to become a labor doula. I…

This page will host the public updates from an interaction I had with Portland Police Bureau which took place on June 13, 2019 around 6:15pm near Killingsworth and NE 42nd Ave. I wrote about the incident here and will keep most recent updates at the top of this thread.   10/28/19, received an email from…

Imagine with me 2.5 years ago Pause here a moment Before reading on What is that thing That has you shackled For the last 2.5 years? Is it illness? Is it debt? Is it worry for your child? Is it depression? Is it addiction? Is it powerlessness? Is it houselessness? Is it fear? Is it…

Black women are not a problem. Black women are not a problem. Black women are not a problem. To white people who hold power: study this graphic and commit to never, ever pushing black women out of your organization or watching it happen in your organization. Do not make decisions in isolation but rather stop…

Yesterday I attended the Black Voices United Candidate Forum. Maranatha Church hosted this black-led space for candidates for Portland Public Schools Board to answer questions of concern from the black community. This event was organized by Nichole Watson and moderated by Sam Thompson. Michelle DePass and Shanice Clarke — you are both my sheros. I wish both…

Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!  – John Brown, 1837 Yesterday I read Kyle Korver’s self reflective piece about his emerging race consciousness. His story models the process of how white people go from centering white cultural norms to an…

Dear America: Notes Of An Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors I’m Still Here: Black Dignity In A World Made For Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown Survival Math: Notes On An All American Family by Mitchell S. Jackson They Called Me…

I was a young adult when I first heard the proverb “begin with the end in sight”. With this wisdom at my fingertips, I could will myself past the discomfort of reaching for my goals. Each winter, my family would head into snow-covered woods in search of a Christmas tree. My mom would forge the…

Again, I loudly say “I am them and they are me”. Today, the impulse of all white anti-racists will be to distance ourselves from this data. We must not do that. Surfacing our individual vote as proof positive of our “solidarity” or “good white person” status is individualism – a tenet of white dominance. We…

To parents of white children, Do your children sit under the authority of black women? I’m not asking about your child having black friends because you moved into (let’s be real, gentrified) a neighborhood where your child could be exposed to black people. Don’t misunderstand the question because of your black family or friends who…

White women, we need to talk…We need to talk about our addiction to speak, comment, examine, criticize, and enter spaces that are created by and for Indigenous, Black, and Brown people. We are deeply sick. Really. Admit :::: I interject myself into places that are not for me because I seek recognition for my work…

We hugged and sat down. Sipping coffee she tells me that she can’t understand how our nation elected this guy. I felt her panic and disorientation. She was waking up to a nation she didn’t recognize. I remembered feeling so many of the same feelings years before. The only difference between us was time. White…

White domination is personal and it is a system. Individual and interconnected. The Dismantling Racism tool Three Expressions Of Racism teaches that there are personal, institutional, and cultural forms of racism. Educating white people on the systemic nature of white domination, by examining institutional racism is necessary. The vast majority of white people have little…

It’s been a flood lately. The barriers breached. Took some time to examine the feelings that have been coming up for me as a white person engaged in abolitionist work to end white domination. What I found was a flood. Still after all these years, I was having a hard time identifying the feelings and…

The other day he was sharing with me how he’d rather take the longer way because the road is straight and flat which allows him to get visual feedback about how much further he has to walk. I’ve often referred to the self-work for white people to abolish white dominance in ourselves as a continuum.…

I loved spending time as a child on my grandparent’s farm. One of my favorite trees had a thin, papery bark that would break, curl and slough off as the trunk expanded. I remember feeling a sense of sadness for this tree that never seemed to be able to just get a break from this…

He called it the racial equity industrial complex. I was struck with the layers of truth in his statement. To create anything within the context of white dominant culture means that which is created will inherit the DNA of white dominance. I’m at fault too. She came to the learning space enveloped in her degrees…

“Winter trees on a north coast headland That drops into Murlough bay Asking mystical questions With the serenity of their gentle sway And I’m fascinated by the mystery Did God peer down then bending Pencil sketch them in the cloak of darkness Or the distraction of the sun descending They are so skilfully shaped like…

We’ve been talking a lot about boo boos lately. It’s summertime and she is still learning how to play with wild abandon. As a four-year-old black girl, there is a fear in her that is not something I remember ever having. I was her age when my family moved to a small town in eastern…

I watched her walk by and was taken right back to that place when I was Parent Teacher Organization Chair and fighting a private school to make way for families of color. The student demographic was about 75% children of color, about 60%+ of which were black. Looking back, I know that my ego was…

There is no love in upholding and perpetuating white dominant culture. One of the normed lies in the white community that to love oneself is to grab everything we can get our hands on – every opportunity, affirmation, promotion, etc. that we perceive the universe wants for us. James Baldwin wrote in The Fire Next…

I continually struggle with taking responsibility for my participation in racism. It has been painful to admit the harm that I bring to my children, my husband and dear friends. Yet, in this I’m violating an agreement I hold to share my perspective responsibly. My perspective lands squarely as a white person which means I…