2020 has not been what I expected.  Has 2020 been what you expected so far?  Probably not.  2020 has brought a pandemic, new normals, an economic crisis, and a 50,000-watt spotlight on the racial inequalities and injustices across this country lived daily by the Black community.  This shift in focus in our planner social media is truly testing what our planner community is made of.  As I observe the posts and watch the stories, I wonder.  Can we as a planner community use a paper planner to make us stronger together?  I think we can but ...

We need to LISTEN to those affected and we need to fully SUPPORT the POC in our community and be committed without fear of a hit to Social Media statistics.  Only then can the POC feel the support of our community behind them.  Only then we can be stronger together.  

I hope that as I write this: 

• Those that are taking the silent route are silent because they are out there educating themselves and come back to the community with a strong voice  
• Those that are taking the neutral response get the hell off the fence and form a strong opinion because racism is just WRONG!
• Those that are suffering find support so they can keep the fight going
• That we can continue the conversations that will evolve into a common understanding that shit is fucked up
• Planner girls making a list of books to read or podcasts to listen to
• Planner girls are making lists of events and protests to be part of the movement
• Planner girls are making list of organizations to be part of or make a donation to
• Planner girls are writing down the dates to go out and vote
• Planner girls are finding out the phone number and addresses of their local representatives and writing or calling them and holding them accountable for their districts
• Those with the platform use it to help the conversation grow 
• Planner shops and business are doing the internal work they need for equality and growth in understanding and empathy
• Those that don't know reach out to a POC to learn so they can evolve and go out into the world and teach their own family and friends

That is a lot of hope to have but I have seen this planner community overcome not having meetups by jumping on Zoom.  I have seen us do a drive-by with planner goodies because we cannot sit together.  I have seen us create GoFundMe accounts for those in an economic crisis.  I have seen overcome so many other things.  I have seen us come together and support one another in so many beautiful ways.  I have seen shops re-invent how they do business and planner launches to keep up with the new norm.  So if I have seen so much innovation and change for the better then I (one more) hope to see us TOGETHER changing our community.