Promote and Applaud Safe Spaces

Do you feel safe? Do you feel you can be yourself without fear of being judged for your appearance, your voice, all that makes up being you? There are many who do not. For many of us, we don’t have to fear being profiled. I am a male, straight WASP and in today’s society, I will never be profiled —- looked at as being out of the norm and suspicious or a danger to anyone. There will not be any laws that will attempt to restrict my freedoms. White, Anglo- Saxon Protestant, for those unfamiliar with the term. My ancestry dates back to the Mayflower, though no credit or special recognition is due me, since I had nothing to do with it.

But there are many, including members of my own family who do not have the same privileges and safety. Just on voting rights alone if the criteria at the time of the adoption of the Constitution were applied, none of the 30+ members of my family would be eligible for one reason or another.

I know plenty of friends and family members who don’t enjoy the same safety in society, due to differences that others would judge them for. Be it race, gender identity, ethnic background, etc, they are judged less than or seen as suspicious. I am incensed that this happens because to me they are family. And I am incensed that this discrimination is rampant in society because it is wrong. I am committed to personally being a safe space builder because everyone is entitled to equal treatment—not just under the law, but under common decency and common humanity.

And I want to highlight and applaud those even in the corporate world who recognize and support the building of safe spaces. We should all promote and applaud safe spaces. There is no place for discrimination and hatred in this world.