A Prayer for my White Colleagues in Education

Lord, help me wallow in my discomfort,Stew in my unease,Sit with my disquiet.�As we journey through thisRacialized pandemic,Harmful leadership,SeeingClear inequities,Anger,Hurt.Aid us in our focus.�How are we people for and with others?Help us open our eyesAs we look at our own faculty, our staff, our boards, our students.What do they look like?What voices are absent?�Help us acknowledge our history:What have we done to exclude, persecute, and silence?How have we been complicit?Forgive us for not being there, for not doing enough.�How can we invite, empower, and lift up these voices?We need to do better.We need to move now.Who can we invite to our tables?�Help us go to the margins,Especially those at our own institutions.Let usStand with the lonely,The sick, the persecuted, those who have been violated.Let us sit with them,In our own unease.�Help us listen to these voices.Help us reflect.Help us prayerfully act.Help us rise,Not to erase our discomfortBut to be fully present,Seeking solidarity,Seeking repentance.�Lord, help us wallow in our discomfort,Let us lean in.�� � � - Sarah Signorino, Canisius College