All right everyone. Welcome back. Anti-Racism III; Week 3; Keep Driving. Wow, that's a really interesting metaphor to think about. If you listened to the video that Jennifer and I had; the conversation we had, we're talking about a lot of times this work is exhausting. It makes you tired, and you got to pull over and take a break. You have to stop what you're doing and take care of yourself, but at some point you're going to have to get back to it and get back to work and get back on that journey of this very difficult and very complex work and here we are. How do we do that? If you took out Anti-Racism I and Anti-Racism II, and now you're in the final stretch; you're in the final week of Anti-Racism III, and especially if you are taking it in order to say you've taken the series. You've taken Anti-Racism I, II, and III, you want the certificate. Let me get really real now, you don't get a gold star. You are not an anti-racist. You cannot show that certificate and call yourself an anti-racist. You can say you completed three courses in anti-racism and that you're actively trying to do anti-racism work. Anti-racism is not a destination. It is not over. In fact, you are just beginning. This is ongoing work. Well said Jennifer. I really couldn't add much more to that because we've been talking about this throughout Anti-Racism I, throughout Anti-Racism II that there's no end to this work. We don't call ourselves anti-racists. We say we do anti-racist work and that's what we're doing here and it is an ongoing journey, so hang in there and keep going. Let me ask you this Sean as we're wrapping things up because I think there are so many roadblocks. There are things that are daunting about taking the on this work, and so what keeps you driving? What's the mix tape that keeps you moving? As difficult as it is sometimes I think there's just a sense of that I always think about all of us as human beings as people, and I'm like, "Wow." Sometimes it really hits me like, is this as good as we are like this? Really. Not only is it painful, but it's also embarrassing. It embarrasses me so much, like this is as good as we are with this beautiful Earth that we've been given and all the beautiful things and wonderful things in it and this is as good as it gets as the way we've been treating each other for hundreds of years now. It's just it's not good enough. What can I do to to help sustain and perpetuate just something better? I know that sounds so simple and cliche, but it is. This isn't good enough. What we've been doing, the way we've been doing it, isn't good enough and it's a shame because so many of us have offered other tools and other perspectives on how to do things better. We just have too many other roadblocks in place with people and systems that want to deny us our true humanity. No. A hundred percent when [inaudible] in what you're just saying right now because I think that's it for me. I'm serious extrovert people person and I like people a lot, and I want to believe that we are better, that we are capable of more. I will say this the identity I really feel a lot of times is teacher. I feel like I was called to be an educator, I love being in the classroom. I had the best teaching day today with my students in my first-year seminar called Mixed Race in America. We had this lovely, rich, far-reaching conversation and those are the moments I lived for. We had a conversation about race and racism and white supremacy, and these are 18- and 19-year-olds who are just brilliant. Absolutely brilliant and that's what makes me keep doing this work because the energy in the room with my students as they were listening to each other, and hearing each other, and lightly disagreeing but then also agreeing on certain things and grappling with really hard things around the topic of immigration, and citizenship, and white supremacy, and patriotism. It just made me so happy and proud to be able to facilitate that, and that's how I feel my own role in this course is that I'm here working with you, facilitating conversations, and trying to encourage all of you who are listening and doing this work to keep doing it. Even though I began by chastising and saying, "Now, you're not an anti-racist," you can do this. We can all do this together. Well, that's wonderful. Thank you Jennifer. Thank you Sean.
