"There's room for all of us."

A few months back, while bike riding with my family I veered left to pull up next to my husband. Unintentionally, I cut off a young black man just behind me. I immediately said "oh, I'm so sorry!!" He went around and said "no worries, there's room for all of us."

My husband assured me that he was genuinely recognizing and displaying understanding of my honest mistake. But what he said ran thru my head no fewer than a hundred times thru the duration of our ride. 

"There's room for all of us."

I feel sad, worried, and angry about the ongoing presence and power of prejudice in our country, specifically in regards to the many devastating acts of racism in 2016.
Maybe we need the reminder that there is indeed room for all of us. 

If this year has taught me anything, it's this: I can't just agree that there's room for all of us and remain comfy in my own space, I need to be aware. Of others. Of my presence. Of my biases. Of opportunities to stand up for the rights of others. This is not about defending my space but rather recognizing where others deserve space and it is being denied. Explicitly and implicitly. 

In a few short weeks, a man who has outwardly expresses his superiority over others will become our president. In the next four years, we will be subject to his bigotry and crass expression of his prejudice ideals. We will suffer the impact of his decisions and his far too widely accepted discriminating views. 

But we won't take this sitting down. We'll stand together. We'll stand for each other. There's going to be days that hurt. Moments that are difficult as we fight for rights, equality, and equity. But we will fight. We will defend the notion that all races, genders, identities, and classes belong here. Because, well, there's room for all of us.