Good afternoon as I thought about my remarks this morning, all I could see where my children my eight year old son and my 11 year old daughter and the wondering of what does all of this look like through their eyes. I see their beauty and innocence they're intellect and brilliance and I wonder how and when the world will snatch that away from them and then my head. A spin I'm not just a mom, I've devoted my life and career to children and I'm always probably aware of their presence. I know they are watching what we do and what we don't do. They're watching what we say and what we don't say every moment is instructive to children and they are listening for something and if they only hear silence their heads are filled with noise and this noise can be. It can be depression, it can be complacency, It can be grief and while my brother, Herndon said, I don't condone deluding or the vandalism and I know that it is a symptom, not a problem and I know that for me it personifies how I feel inside and I wonder sometimes if this is an opportunity to help my children see this that is wrong as it may be, it is a symbol of our shattering our devastation. Our internal beating every time we see a life lost like George Floyd George Floyd called out to his mother. His cry reaches the heart of all of us moms and we see our sons and daughters and we are in shambles but I do think there is hope and I think there is hope because I come from a people who carry hope across. A people who despite devastation and terror and oppression have written spirituals that lift this whole nation up in hope of people that have strengthened the very fiber of our being even when forces are taking away our breath. I also think there is hope because I study neuroscience and psychology and child development and these things tell us we can create a new narrative but his mothers and fathers and educators we have to be intentional. It does not happen by chance our brains are incredible miraculous things that can be wired and rewired by the words and actions that we do they call this neuroplasticity and the science. Is that our children are not born, hating other children or rendering certain people. invisible This happens over time every circumstances, a data point that forms an idea watching a black boy in preschool get kicked out of class repeatedly is a data point pretending as though the founding of our country did not come at the hands of genocide is a data point silence and the aftermath of killing is a data point and these. Points for ideas and these ideas form Schema and this Scheer dictates behavior. We are developing racist, Scheer and reinforcing racist ideas in the minds of our children when we fail to talk to them about racism when we fail to tell the truth about history when we fail to point out injustice, whether it is overt or covert you see when we put children in the of our lives our comfort. Discomfort becomes less important. Our words today can save lives tomorrow. Our children are the souls will send into a time that many of us will never see. When we are stressed what's inside comes out when Amy Verbally attacked Mister Cooper watching birds in Central Park. What was inside of her came out? Let that be a lesson to us all, but what was inside of Mister Cooper also came out. Let him be an example of what happens when we build in our children, the moral character of calm and grace and forgiveness, even when our lives are being threatened the neuroscience. Science tells us that diversity matters as human beings, We deem dehumanize what we don't know we fear what we don't understand our brains will rely on the data derived by sound bites and stereotypes instead of facts when we don't have real people of different races and backgrounds in our lives. My friend, Toya, Fick wrote an op-ed in yesterday's Oregonian about the importance of retaining teachers of color and I just thought Oh my goodness. This is so well time because this is something that we can actually do right now. This is a way to actively combat racialized violence in our schools. When we do this, we make our school safer for our black children. We break down fear for our White children and collectively our children get one step closer to seeing the humanity of one another and. Is everything Because I believe that when a White child can see the humanity of my black son, It becomes much harder to crush him with their knees. diversity is not anti racist. It is humane. The list could go on and on, but I will stop here. Let there be no question that there is something that we can do right here and right now to change the course of history and I believe it lies with our children. it lies with the road map. We are building in their brains every day. it lies in the ways that we wire and rewire their brains. We are giving them data every single day that informs their scheme with the words we use or don't the care we. Or withhold the people they see or don't I can't think of any greater light in this darkness than them. so let's collectively illuminate their lights strengthen them to understand the tenure is tentacles of racism so they can dismantle them and let's love them, especially our black children. love them. love them love them so they are resilient and strong in the face of oppression. Don't dismiss. And don't exacerbate it talk to them and don't talk down to them. collectively, let's do what it takes to build in our children, a foundation that can effectively disrupt the patterns of injustice and destroy the strongholds of hatred that brings us all here today. Children I do believe her not just the future. I believe they are our greatest hope Thank.