in case you forgot or maybe are just tuning in (hello, new friends!) i'm sharing a wealth of knowledge from a Trevor Noah lecture i was fortunate to hear via my job at the #nikerockgym. here’s part trois: . PART III: Not Politics, But Truths . somehow, America has taught us that human issues can be (and are) political ones. ‘i believe in equal rights’ is an actual political stance, but i guess when something as simple as wearing a mask in a pandemic can be politicized, it’s no wonder that’s the case. i’m not here to discuss politics because frankly, i’m not informed enough from that angle, but what i can certainly tell you is #blacklivesmatter is not an issue of politics, but of human truth. and that’s something Trevor emphasized to us - specifically, in the context of what companies & corporate bodies we work for & support. he suggested they be less afraid of taking a stand - “not engaging in politics, but engaging in truths.” . some of you probably work for a company that didn’t take a stance on systemic racism. they probably gave reasons like not wanting to alienate customers or make people uncomfortable, or maybe not wanting to ‘engage in politics.’ i think for me, some of the most disturbing forms of this have come from climbing gyms. some just flat out don’t believe in white supremacy, but some just don’t wanna make a CLEAR stance on BLM. and in some ways, i think this is worse. . y’all might think i’m crazy for saying this, but i’d wayyyy rather have a climbing gym throw up a burning cross in their front yard than make some weak-ass, half-ass stance on a very real, very impactful issue because they’re ‘scared of the backlash.’ the crazy thing to me is, who are they fearing the backlash of? their strongly-racist clientele, or people who want to be able to ignore racism when they climb? and that’s another thing - i’ve heard multiple times that some gyms cited wanting their members to be able to ‘put racism aside when they come climbing.’ well guess what? there's already a HUGE group of people who want to be able to put racism aside when they go climbing, but can’t…and they're called 'minorities.' so yeah, freeze that shit. your privilege is showing. (at The Circuit Gym, Tigard) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCrBg8BpYpz/?igshid=1owymlrs16sxx