Your stories of hope

To mark the second anniversary of George Floyd's murder, we invited the EmbraceRace community to share stories of healing and hope to honor his memory and “spur us to reimagine what’s possible." The prompt asked how your immediate or wider community has helped you heal or find hope in the wake of that traumatic event and in the midst of ongoing racialized violence in the United States. Between May 25 and July 8, 2022 we received so many moving stories from caregivers, educators and other adults in the lives of children.

The submission period for Stories of Hope included the first Juneteenth celebration that the U.S. government recognized as a federal holiday - as well as the 4th of July, a complicated milestone. And, during that same time period a number of tragic things happened that shook us - a racially-motivated shooting that killed 10 people in a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, an attack in a church in Laguna Beach, CA, a mass shooting that killed 19 children and 2 teachers in a school in Uvalde, TX, consequential decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and more violence including a mass shooting at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, IL.

For many hope in the summer of 2022 felt elusive and for others, it felt even more urgent.

Below are a selection of Stories of Hope that were submitted between May 25 and July 8, 2022. All of the stories that we received will be included in our story bank and will be included in our storytelling work. We are grateful for all of you who shared what gives you hope.

Yours,

Andrew, Melissa & the whole EmbraceRace team