Letter from the Editor

The original draft for this Letter from the Editor from early May was nice. It was reminiscent of days on the river, long hikes in the sun, and snapshots of my childhood in California— the scent of jasmine, collecting broken seashells, a tangled mess of saltwater hair.

But that’s all it was— nice— which is why I scrapped it and wrote the letter you’re reading now.

Yes, it’s summer in Montana, but the world exists beyond the rivers and mountains. It would be a disservice to act like nothing is happening, to publish an issue business as usual.

Racism is nothing new, and that’s part of the problem. Demanding that Black, Indigenous, and people of color be treated the same as White Americans is nothing new. This has been going on in America for 400 years (as a reminder, America has only officially been a country for a mere 244 years)— a lot of us are just now finally catching up.

There’s been a slew of arguments against the George Floyd protests— “I haven’t dealt with racism, it’s not a problem. There isn’t racism in Montana. All of the protesters are from out of state, this isn’t Montana.” It goes on.

Here’s the thing, though: this is Montana. Both sides. There is racism in Montana. It’s a fallacy to deny that. There are also people who are doing something about it— people who were born and raised here, people who moved here from out of state— this is Montana.

To deny racism’s existence is privilege. To claim Montana doesn’t have racism is privilege. To go to your local farmer’s market and have dinner on the front lawn of a bank is privilege. To not have to think about the color of your skin at all is privilege.

Since the heinous murder of George Floyd, I’ve been learning, reading, donating, and listening.

And now, I want to take this letter to apologize.

I should have been learning, reading, donating, and listening a long time ago. I fully acknowledge that. I was wrongly under the impression that I was doing enough and damn, was I wrong. I knew only a handful of the names that came before George Floyd. I knew a cherrypicked history of the United States from history classes. And, if the black squares on Instagram taught me anything, they taught me that my social feeds were incredibly White.

I will do better. Montana Woman will do better. Since I took over in October 2019, the magazine has been a safe space. But being a safe space goes beyond saying it— you have to put the work in. It’s easy enough to say you’re inclusive, but what good is inclusivity without action?

We all have to do what we can, whatever that may be. Maybe you’re protesting! Maybe you have to stay home for health concerns, so you share resources through your social platform. Maybe you’re an artist creating craftivism or designing resource guides. Maybe you’re reading literature by Black authors or listening to podcasts or having difficult conversations with yourself, your friends, or your family. There is no one way to be an activist/ally— find your niche and run.

We cannot change the past, but we can come together to nurture a better future for everyone. After all, the preamble of the United States Constitution begins with “We the People.” What good is We if it’s exclusive?

You belong here.