Today is Sunday, February 8 and it is also Black History Month. That matters.
It matters because history matters.
It matters because truth matters.
And it matters because whose voices we choose to hear—or silence—reveals who we are.
I’m writing this because silence is no longer an option for me.
Each of us has a voice. And each of us has a responsibility to decide whether we will use it.
I know this may make some people uncomfortable. I’m genuinely sorry about that. But my life purpose is not to make people comfortable. It is to help people—and sometimes help requires honesty, courage, and clarity.
So here’s where I stand.
Facts, Trust, and Leadership
Facts are facts.
When it comes to trust, people generally fall into two camps. Some give trust freely and withdraw it if it’s violated. Others believe trust must be earned from the start.
Right now, that distinction doesn’t matter.
Trust in our federal government has broken. And it has not been earned.
That is not a political talking point. It is a lived reality. You can see it in the fear people carry, the anger they express, the disengagement they choose, and the uncertainty they no longer try to hide.
Leadership without trust is not leadership.
Power without trust is not legitimacy.
Let’s get real. You cannot ask people to comply, to sacrifice, or to “fall in line” when the foundation of trust has been damaged and left unrepaired. Pretending otherwise does not restore confidence—it deepens the fracture.
I believe this moment will pass. History tells us it will. What I don’t know—and what concerns me deeply—is who we will be on the other side of it. What values will we have strengthened? What behavior will we have normalized? What will we have decided is acceptable? Will we respect and be proud of who we have become?
Those questions matter.
Are There Really “Sides”?
We talk as if there are sides—left and right, us and them.
But are there really sides? Or have we relied on labels because they’re easier than thinking and doing the hard work of learning?
Labels limit.
They reduce complex human beings into categories. They shut down curiosity. They replace conversation with assumption. And once we label someone, we often stop listening altogether.
Very little in life is either/or. That kind of thinking is limiting—and it is not reality.
Reality is “and”.
And is harder.
And is messier.
And requires more of us.
And means holding multiple truths at the same time. It means resisting the urge to oversimplify complex issues so we can feel certain or comfortable. It means acknowledging that people, systems, and histories cannot be reduced to a single story.
People are not parties.
People are not ideologies.
People are not talking points.
When we lead with labels and either/or thinking, we abandon the hard work of understanding—and in doing so, we abandon humanity, limiting who we are and who we can become.
Party Should Never Come Before People
It doesn’t matter to me what political party you belong to.
What deeply concerns me is when party loyalty overrides moral responsibility—when decisions are made based on ideology instead of human impact.
When people are told to “fall in line,” we should all be troubled.
That language implies obedience over conscience, conformity over truth, and silence over accountability. It discourages exactly what we need most right now: people willing to engage in conversation rather than compete in a debate.
Progress does not come from silencing difference. It comes from leaders—and citizens—who are willing to listen, to question, and to wrestle with complexity. It requires curiosity, not condemnation.
What if, instead of demanding compliance, we committed to intentional conversations with the shared goal of addressing and resolving real issues?
Progress does not come from coercion.
It comes from courage.
Standing for Christ Means Standing for All People
It doesn’t matter to me if you lean left.
It doesn’t matter to me if you lean right.
What I care about is standing for Christ.
And standing for Christ means rejecting anything that divides people to elevate another group. It means rejecting the belief that the ends justify the means. It means calling out disrespect—especially when power, politics, or fear excuse it.
Because how you do something matters just as much as what you do.
If the method requires dehumanizing people, silencing voices, rewriting history, or abandoning integrity, then the outcome is already compromised—no matter how it’s justified.
Respect must be the bridge across our differences.
I believe in listening.
I believe in learning.
I believe in understanding.
And I believe in speaking up.
This is not about the loudest voices winning. It is about ensuring voices are not silenced. When people are afraid to speak—or are punished for doing so—we should all be alarmed.
Black History Month Is Not Symbolic—It Is Instructive
Black History Month is not a gesture. It is a reminder.
A reminder that history lives in people.
A reminder that progress was hard-fought.
A reminder that systems were intentionally built to exclude—and that their effects did not simply disappear with time.
Diversity is not a program.
It is not optional.
It is a fact.
Because diversity is a fact, we have a responsibility to deal with it honestly. If something has never been your lived experience, that does not make it untrue. It means you have more to learn.
Efforts to erase history say far more about those doing the erasing than those being erased.
We Have a Responsibility to Educate Ourselves
We cannot grow as individuals—or as a society—if we limit the information we seek to what confirms what we already believe.
That is not learning. That is reinforcement.
Each of us has a responsibility to challenge our own thinking, seek facts, listen to perspectives that make us uncomfortable, and question narratives we accept too easily.
How do we expect to grow or advance as a society with such limited thinking?
Limited thinking produces limited outcomes. And limited outcomes are exactly where we are stuck.
We Have What We Tolerate
Most of us have experienced workplaces or systems where harmful behavior is known and allowed.
At that point, the problem is no longer just the individual. It is the system that permits it.
Speaking up matters. But so does recognizing when continued tolerance becomes complicity.
We have what we tolerate.
This applies to organizations, leadership, and society
My Humanity Won’t Let Me Look Away
What happened in Minneapolis makes me sick to my stomach.
That discomfort matters. It means my humanity is intact.
Just because something is not happening to me or in my city, does not mean it does not matter. If it is happening somewhere, it can happen anywhere.
And that should change how we respond.
This Is Where I Stand
I’m putting a stake in the ground.
This is not okay with me.
It is wrong.
And no political party, label, or justification will convince me otherwise—especially when the cost is human dignity.
I will continue to speak.
I will continue to question.
And I will continue to choose truth over comfort—because the ends do not justify the means, and how we show up in this moment will define who we become next.
“The true measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This reflects who I am and how I choose to show up. I am not looking for agreement. I believe clarity matters, and how we engage with one another in moments like this says a lot about who we are and who we are becoming.
Terri
