I would say I fall between aware and active on the continuum. I try to educate myself as much s possible, and lately with all the recent protests, have tried to speak up more. I hate to keep blaming things on my location but the truth is I live in a small rural, mostly white town in a small rural mostly white state and much of this stuff doesn't come to us. I've gone to rallies and donated and signed and shared petitions but actual activism seems removed from my area (for example, I support defunding the police in general but the police in my immediate area aren't heavily militarized or over budgeted, etc, so locally it doesn't have much impact). I hope to be more involved and active, and in the meantime try to stay educated and educate others as much as I can.
Jessica, I relate to much of what you are saying. I live in a small town in rural Wisconsin. I love our town. And, I see that deep work is needed here precisely because the surface looks placid. I am doing my part to push our school district to do deep anti-racism work: in curriculum, in staffing, in exploring personal and institutional bias/racism. I am working as a board member of our local food co-op to explore other ways that racism is deeply rooted below our picturesque river town: police, city hall, etc. We are working as a team to identify where the work is needs to start, where it is already begun and where we can partner and support others. --Tonya Schmitt