That desire quickly turned into a commitment. “It involved a lot of listening, and also showing up in ways that I could, that wasn’t overshadowing minority voices in the process. So it did involve protesting, it did involve dinner table conversations, it did involve friends getting together and just watching what was going on around us, learning as a white person where you are of most help, committing to self-education, and learning and unlearning.” Self-education was key to shaping Grace’s worldview, and in the midst of all that has happened in the recent past, three books spoke to him: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reno Eddo-Lodge, and most importantly, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. “It was just so illuminating, it talks about why neutrality or apathy in these situations is devastating. And that just spoke to me, especially when looking at the communities I come from.” All of this taught Grace how important it is to pay attention, to engage, and to perpetually continue the dialogue. “If you can show up in your community for outreach, whether that’s volunteering or protesting…just hearing people that are in pain. It’s incredibly important moving forward, and I don’t think after this year that has to stop.”

Now, Grace, has his eyes turned to the Georgia election, and he puts its importance succinctly: “It decides how the senate will lean and that makes a huge impact on what President-elect Biden will be able to pass in his first year, and a lot of that is going to have to be a lot of undoing. That is just critical to people right now, especially in minority communities.” He’s most aware of the impact on healthcare, as well as the continued support for organizations like BLM that the outcome of this election can have. “There are really real consequences if this doesn’t go the way that we’re hoping. And so putting our faith back into democracy, and hearing people’s voices, it’s critical. People have really felt that that process has been threatened recently.”

Still, Grace is hopeful, and it comes back down to his simple, but the ever-important idea of talking and listening to those around you. He’s conscious of how resonant those dinner table conversations can be, extending far beyond our New York bubble. “Human connection, I think, is really what’s giving me hope. I know the election atmosphere has been extremely tense, but the fact that we are electing a more diverse crew of people who really care about the seat they’re in—in a way that has never been seen in this country—gives me hope.”