One Room Challenge: Week 6 & BLM

Friends it has been a heavy past couple weeks of getting through the current event stemming from the systemic racism that has occurred on our soil for far too long. I couldn’t really focus on this challenge and it felt disingenuous to even try to pretend that I was excited about this when there are such heavy things happening. I took a break, learned, studied, listened, cried, and then started speaking boldly about what we can and intend to do to support this moment.

I posted on my stories and wanted to add some of my thoughts here. If you are following along my One Room Challenge journey, thank you! I am so honored you are here. My desire so to make space and honor those in marginalized people groups within my community to shed a light on some of the issues they face. So I invite you to hang with me for a second to get through a couple of points and then back to the wallpaper you guys have asked so much about.

Here is what I posted yesterday:

It has taken me a long time to respond and wrap my mind around what is happening. Navigating a pandemic and social unrest while being pregnant is heavy, hard, and brings up so many feelings of insecurity. I understand that it is part of the privilege I have to be able to step back, look inward, and take time while others are out in the front lines making the stand and fighting the good fight.
I have been thinking a lot about my small town and community here. I pulled the demographics for Hood River and this is what I found:
5.03k White Alone residents (66.8%)
2.11k Hispanic or Latino residents (28.1%)
197 Two or More Races residents (2.62%)
175 Asian Alone residents (2.33%)
14 Black or Africa (.18%)
Why is this important?
It means that I will have to make the choice to seek out information, experiences, exposure to the Black community more so than if it were to organically occur in my community. Not being exposed on a daily basis means it is easier to forget/absolve/dismiss/distance myself with the movement.
I don’t have all the answers. I feel so devastated and broken over the violence that has occurred and continues to occur nationwide to the Black community. What I do know is that I have a voice, a heart, and mind that all work together to do the best I can to engage and continue to discussion.
What does that look like for me?
A lot of my time this week was spent talking, face to face, over the phone, in private community groups discussing what Black Lives Matter is about. Why George Floyd is represents so much more than one man. What it means to be a Christian to be actively engaged in justice.
I have to be honest. Some of these conversations were much harder than I anticipated. Bias, prejudice, privilege. It runs deeper than I ever imagined. In myself, but also in my White Evangelical Christian Community.
That being said, I have felt that the greatest need in my community is to have these conversations. To be the person who, in love, advocates for the Black community within my faith circle. To call out racism and privilege and say no to “All Lives Matter” in this moment.
So if you aren’t seeing me post a ton on social media about this, it’s because I am in the field doing what I can to change the conversation from within my community. The Church is being asked to make a stand. We haven’t. We have failed. Jesus was a man of justice. His entire ministry was a ministry of Justice for the marginalized. Not once did he fight for comfort, self-protection/preservation, status, etc. Instead, he flipped the tables of the oppressors and fought for the equality. Fiercely calling out the people profiting and benefiting off the oppression. That is what we are called to be. And this is what I am called to speak for in my community. I feel so deeply that I am meant to be a voice in a community that so easily tries to claim love.
Okay so that is the personal side to this story.
So what does this mean for my business and what changes can I commit to as a small business owner?
Firstly, I looked at those that I follow and (not shockingly) realized how little BIPOC people I follow. I took time this week to seek out minority owned businesses (mostly women because we are badass and I love supporting women especially) and followed along, engaging, and learning about their business/services/design etc.
We must seek out people who look/think/feel/act/believe differently than us. I am no longer wanting to eat at the table with only White designers.
Secondly, it was brought to my attention that minimums and vendor account requirements (can) vary based on the applicant’s skin color. For example, Black designers may be subject to less favorable credit terms or not approved for credit accounts in general by comparison to White applicants.
WHAT. THE. HECK.
So, we have committed to asking the vendors we recommend/supply/have accounts with what their vetting process is. If this is a practice they do, we are committed to not working with them and to contact management to make it known that racial bias within this industry is NOT OKAY.
If you are a Black designer who has experienced this, please let us know which companies and what your experiences were so we can compile a list and hold these companies accountable.
Thirdly, we commit to being actively engaged in making space in our platform and community to amplify Black designers. We will be featuring more designers across the BIPOC spectrum within our Monday Motivation & Feature Friday. We will also be sharing more accounts from BIPOC that inspire us.
Fourthly, we will be happy to assist any BIPOC in small business partnership. If you need help navigating new accounts, business formation, resources for purchasing, etc. We will be happy to assist. Reach out to us. We will connect you with vendors, suppliers, industry peeps, and anyone we can to help see you succeed! The skin color you have should not be a factor for your success, but knowing that it is and that I do not experience the same discrimination means that I will do what I can to stand beside your business growth.
Fifth, we will keep the door open. To learn, to grow, to listen, and to do our best to help restore.
I fully acknowledge that I live with undeserved privilege each and every day. I also acknowledge I don’t know the best way to speak, to share, to discuss these things. So if you hear me say something that it feels off, the door will always be open to you. Please hold me accountable. Please share if my words or actions fall short. I am not above reproach and I think this is a period where we, as White people, need to be able to listen, hear, and understand without defensiveness.
So, my final commitment to you and this community is:
To have eyes open to see injustice and be willing and ready to speak up about it.
To have ears to hear the words of my community and be willing to call it out.
To have hands willing to link arms and to do the work to impart change in my community.
Lastly, there are some people debating whether or not these types of commitments are enough.
Am I giving enough. Am I fighting enough? Is this going to help?
A lot of us White people are lost and trying to navigate what the best use of our privilege and time/resources is.
When I read these words and commitments, I hear the lie that they are not enough. That we are not doing enough. Let me be clear, these were things that didn’t even occur to me a little over a week ago. So this is progress. All change starts with a small step. Then we take another step. And another. Let’s try to be supportive of each other as we wade through this and if you feel like there is something more we can do to help, reach out.
We are listening. We are learning. And, most importantly, we are willing.

After I posted this, I received so many messages of solidarity or saying ‘thanks’ for speaking up about these things from within the communities I am in. Although many of them brought me to tears, the root of this goes so much deeper. We need each other and we need to use our platforms to elevate, amplify, support, and encourage BIPOC. What are you being asked to do in this season? How can we help?

We are nearly done with G’s room and to be honest I have been trying to slow it down to have more things to post for you! So here are just a few little updates for you to see the wallpaper and how it came together. If you are thinking about doing peel & stick wallpaper — DO IT. It was easy and fun and pretty forgiving. Here are a couple tips I am happy to share:

1) Measure 3 times. Cut once.

Be sure to check the repeat and calculate that in your allowances. I had so little margin or error on this wallpaper because I was at exactly 4 rolls. I think after the four rolls were done, I maybe had 18 inches TOTAL of overage. Also, check all your walls for being level and plumb. Top and bottom, left and right. I rushed myself and missed just how much the top inclines and cut all my panels straight at the top. So I ended up having to slice up small pieces at the top.

2) Unroll and let the paper breathe for a couple days.

It relaxes (especially this one because it was vinyl) and it’ll be easier to work with after you let us rest and settle.

3) Prepasted is NOT Peel & Stick.

I bought Peel & Stick for the Star Wars and prepasted for the closet accent (to come). I thought prepasted was just a fanicer term for Peel & Stick. Friends, it’s not. It means there is glue on the back but it still has to be activated with water. Now, I will say it was just as easy to apply but a different set of rules. It took a few panels to get used to working with it.

4) Perfection is impossible.

Buy a paper that is forgiving and can accept some subtle offset. No matter how perfect I cut the panels, they would line up perfectly at the top and by the bottom were offset by 1/8” of an inch. It happened every time. At some point I just had to accept this and honestly you can’t tell at all. When you’re six inches from it trying to push out every air bubble, it looks like a lot. Stand back. Re-asses. You probably can’t even see it.

5) Whatever stretching you have to do with the first panel will continue to every panel after that.

It’s a domino effect. Whatever you end up having to work out and stretch or pull to get to “level” on the first panel will be the same exact point of stretching and pull on the next panel. But the paper is super forgiving and you can pull up and repress several times without hurting the paper or walls.

Friends, thanks for sitting with me in the struggles the past few weeks. Thank you for joining arms with our BIPOC communities to pause in this moment to share what is happening. I am grateful for each and every one of you. Stay tuned for next week.

To see what other peeps in the One Room Challenge are up to, head here: http://www.oneroomchallenge.com/orc-blog

All in Love,
Samantha Struck

One Room Challenge: Week 6 & BLM