As many of you know, I have a few interesting hobbies. One of them is crafting and lobbying public policy. I started an account on Substack to introduce policy proposals and calls to action.
Last year, there was a lot of social unrest that was going on during a historically unprecedented pandemic. In May 2020, the world watched the shocking murder of George Floyd. This led to widespread protests that were both peaceful and violent. Because of the daily spontaneity and chaos these protests created, there was a lot of uncertainty and anger. I felt like we didn’t ask ourselves the question, “What are we going to do about it?” enough. What are we going to do about the systemic racial and economic inequality in our country? I started reaching out to activists, policymakers and elected officials throughout the country. The consensus was that we needed to collectively rally around a solution-oriented dialogue that evolved beyond protest slogans and concepts that weren’t fully fleshed out.
I did a little experimentation with the way I communicated solutions. It started out with these lengthy Facebook posts that people glossed over. Everyone has an opinion on social media. Why should mine matter? I didn’t really have an answer for that. It was true that I have a Medium account, which I designated for op-ed columns. But during this pandemic, it appeared that everyone and their mother had a blog somewhere. Again, who cares? And finally, I decided to streamline my words and thoughts into a more constructive and direct dialogue.
There are a few other projects I’m working on that are in the pipeline. Stay tuned for updates on those! In the meantime, check out my Substack page. Looking forward to hearing from you!