Imagine this: Three 12 year-old black kids walk into an ice cream store in an all-white section of town, only to turn to their mentor and ask: “You sure it’s cool that we’re around all these white people?” These kids had never been to this part of town, and as the mentor explained to us in a recent interview, “They were so nervous when they got there.”

Dear Governor: Having to cancel the first stop of your “racial reconciliation tour” at Virginia Union University is a sign of just how difficult your road ahead is. What will you do from here? You face a fundamental choice. Is your reconciliation tour about your own political survival, or can you become an instrument of society?

Watching the unfolding events in Virginia this past week has only deepened my personal commitment and drive to address two key topics: identity and sorrow. These will be a new focus of our Studio on Community moving forward.