My late wife was a philanthropist and anti-racism activist. Her accidental death in 1996 propelled me into a shocking new identity as a person with wealth. To live a meaningful life as a person of wealth, I threw myself into a crash self-help program that included doing internal spiritual and healing work, taking workshops to better understand race and class and recently, developing friendships that cross race and class lines.

With the inherited trust income, I left my job to found and directed Social Justice Education, a nonprofit organization doing “liberation education” and youth organizing in Boston. For the past four years I have been dedicating more than half my annual income to the organization.

Although I’m continuing as the program’s major funder, I left the staff and Board. I’m learning the tricky dance of supporting social justice programs run by low-income people of color as a low key volunteer and donor; carefully not taking direct leadership. My goal is to learn to do this well enough to be able to encourage others who are affluent to do the same.

I have found that most often, when they see my continued dedication to working closely with them to affect change, low-income people of color like, respect and trust me, in spite of my wealth and white privilege. This has helped me relax and enjoy life considerably more!