Presence as Protest; Raising Children in a Dying Empire
Jul 06, 2025The other day, my daughter said something that pierced me wide open:
“I want more of you. Less therapy.”
It felt like a wake-up call—not just from her, but from the moment we’re in.
Because we are raising children inside a dying empire.
Inside systems built on domination, control, and fear.
And the old ways of parenting—like the old ways of power—just aren’t working anymore.
That’s why presence isn’t soft. It’s not passive.
It’s protest.
It’s rupture.
It’s choosing truth in a world that thrives on performance.
🌍 We’re Not Just Parenting Through Change—We’re Parenting Through a Consciousness Shift
I was born 46 years before my children. That’s not just an age gap—it’s a generational leap. I grew up in a world shaped by post-war trauma and white-coded survival. Back then, life seemed like an outside job: build, behave, conform, stay safe.
But life is an inside-out job.
That’s the shift we’re in now.
My children don’t want me to control the outside—they want me to be real on the inside.
They don’t crave comfort. They crave truth.
That’s why I started White Awake Parenting.
Not to fight the past, but to stop repeating it.
Not to dismantle every system from the outside…
But to live differently within them—in alignment, in truth, from the inside out.
⚖️ And Yes, Trump Is Still a Mirror
I’ll be honest: there are days I wish Trump would just vanish from the headlines.
His voice, his harm, his drama—it all feels like poison in a country that’s already bleeding.
But on a deeper level, I know: he’s not the enemy. He’s the mirror.
He’s what white supremacy looks like when it stops pretending to be “nice.”
He’s the dying scream of a system that knows its time is running out.
And while it hurts to see him still causing damage, I also know this:
He’s the rupture before the repair.
He’s the noise that makes us hunger for harmony.
🎶 Real Harmony Isn’t Rosy
People think harmony means peace, quiet, and pretty smiles.
But I’m a musician. I know better.
Harmony is a breathing, living system of tension and release.
It’s dissonance and consonance.
It’s the gnarly, jarring chord… and then the breath of resolution.
Too much ease and the soul gets bored.
Too much conflict and the soul gets lost.
Real harmony is the art of staying in the music,
of trusting the flow,
of letting the discomfort guide us somewhere more whole.
✨ This Is Why I Don’t Teach People to “Fight Racism”
I don’t teach white parents to perform wokeness.
I don’t teach perfection or shame.
I teach them how to parent differently—in truth, in presence, in fierce love.
I teach them to:
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sit with discomfort,
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say the hard things,
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and listen to the wisdom already alive in their Black and Brown children.
This isn’t about white guilt.
It’s about white awakening.
Not so we can feel better.
So we can finally show up.
💬 My Daughter Reminded Me
... that this—being here, being honest, being real—is the revolution.
White Awake Parenting is not about fighting.
It’s not about fixing.
It’s about staying fully present in the dissonance…
and choosing not to pass the pain forward.
Because presence is the protest.
And love—fierce, grounded, awake love—is how we raise the world that comes next.
❤️ If This Resonates…
If you’re a white parent raising Black or Brown children…
and you’re tired of the silence, the shame, the performance…
Come walk this path with me.
We don’t need to fight harder.
We need to live deeper.
We need to live awake.
Let’s raise the future, together.
👉 Book a free discovery session here.
Marion Van Namen
Founder, White Awake Parenting
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