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Hi Yakima –
We’ve been struggling and bumming. And this is SO not our style. We are competition-level cheerleaders for Yakima. Our platform and our messages to you exist to connect you with the good things in our valley - businesses, people, and organizations. And circumstances have made that difficult lately.
We have a couple of things going on.
First, it’s nearly impossible to do what we do when our COVID numbers continue to rise and we see no end to Phase 1 in sight. So, we join in the call to #MaskUpToOpenUp. It is estimated that a mere 35% of people in the Yakima Valley wear masks. We need that number to go WAAAAAYYY up to stop that droplet spread.
We want our economy open. We want to love on our businesses. We want all to be safe in this process. If we all mask up, we can make this happen. Let’s do this, friends.
Second, there is no denying that for centuries in our country, black lives have been sacrificed at a disgraceful rate. The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery - just three in this not-comprehensive-list of names - are devastating.
 As an interracial team and dear friends, we’ve spoken often about how we contribute to upholding racism. Our conversations about oppression are sloppy, uncomfortable, and sometimes comical because we are human.
Lately, we’ve been talking about our beloved Yakima Valley; about the historical and present-day racial tensions and attacks. We have witnessed both subtle and overt racist commentary and harassment, personally and publicly. COVID-19 has increased racist attacks against local Asian-Americans, and the virus is disproportionately impacting our Latinx community. Lauren (in photo, right) runs every day down our valley roads with a pit in her stomach. She expects nothing will happen, but she always knows it can, simply because she is brown.
None of this is acceptable, and none of it is unique. But Yakima is our community. And what happens to one, happens to all. I Heart Yakima has always been about love, and justice is love.
We are heartened to see – on social media and beyond – that we are not alone on this justice journey. In particular, thank you to Tieton Arts & Humanities and Eric Silver, Rotary Club of Yakima President, for speaking out. We join Eric in his message that “the worst thing that we can do is to stay silent.”
Until we turn all forms of racism into ash, we cannot ensure equality, safety, and protection. And we want that for all of our people of the Yakima Valley, and in our country. 
It’s a long, windy road. We are committed to the work of listening, learning, undoing, and recognizing progress. We will make mistakes in this process. And we will get up and dust ourselves off.
In the words and image from our friends at the YWCA of Yakima: Stay home Yakima. Stay healthy. Don’t be racist.
We are all in this together.
Yours in Local Love,
Bridget + Lauren
*If you need resources to learn about how to be anti-racist, here and here are crowdsourced lists of things to watch, read, listen, and follow. Too much? We got you. Watch: 13th. Listen: Code Switch. Read: How to Be an Antiracist (Kendi) and So You Want to Talk about Race (Oluo) >> please purchase at Inklings Bookstore.
Molly Allen, Yakima Magazine
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