Friend, how do you feel about who you are? It’s a question I thought a lot about this past weekend during the Pride celebrations in my home town of Toronto.

On Sunday, the opposite of Pride was Shame. In the parade, I saw people who wanted to be fully seen and loved as they actually are. I saw people who refused to conform to what society, or their loved ones, demanded they be. I saw human beings who refused to believe that what made them "different" also made them unworthy.

Folks, racism can’t be “educated out” of people. No coaching certification course can give a white coach the experiences of a racialized person. Yes, knowing about racism and bias is a good thing. No, it does not mean you understand what it’s like.

Race matters. Racialized experience matters. We need racial equity. We need the lived experience of just how much racism pervade all aspects of work and life.

Just because something isn’t technically illegal, doesn’t mean it’s legal – and it definitely doesn’t mean it’s ethical. Discriminating against a black person because of their hair is racist. But until 2019, it wasn’t recognized as such by the U.S. courts.

“Sometimes People of Colour feel the need to change their name to make it easier for White people to pronounce. e.g. you often see Chinese people anglicizing their names.”

I don’t feel that I’ve compromised my ethnicity by having an “English” name. But I have definitely felt discrimination against my Chinese name.

If we want change, we can't stay silent.

It was supposed to be just another corporate seminar. NOT the place you’d expect to engage in a #MeToo confrontation with a misogynistic, sexist man. But if you think about it...

Life is easier when the world is made to fit you. When systems are built around your demographic.

If you’re not sure if systemic racism, discrimination and exclusion exists, or how to define it – it’s probably because the system was built for you.