Okay, look like okay in in the workplace more specifically. I’m getting a lot of questions about what does that look like how to address the messages sent from employers or the nun messages sent from employers. And how to be more like Ben and Jerry’s. So we’re going to talk about that over the next few days, the next few weeks, because being an ally is not a one and done thing. It is a consistent process. So we’re going to talk about it, we want to get into it and, and I’m gonna have Casey kick it off. And really just and when we say ally, we’re literally saying all capital letters, a LL. Why? Because there’s an acronym for that. And what does that look like? For someone who is an ally, who is going to do the work? So, um, so Casey, I’ll let you let you get started.

All right, Michelle, I’m going to start us off by doing a battery check. I just want to model this new practice that I’m doing. And I’m asking folks to think of themselves as a battery like a cell your cell phone, battery or Something that you use a lot, your computer, whatever. Um, we need to recharge and we need to connect with folks and understand where they are and where we are. So the first thing I would like to do is just say, Okay, what battery charger am I bringing into this? If I’m at a 20 I’ve got a rush to go get some recharge, if I met a 50, okay, I’m fine. But I’m probably not going to have a long FaceTime conversation on my cell phone if I only have 50 I need to plug in. If I’m at 75 and feeling good, I can run multiple programs and I’m taking action. I’m doing a lot of stuff. And so with that in mind, Michelle, I’m gonna ask you to see what your battery charges my battery charge I have not even thought about so let’s just do a live let’s see, where am I feeling? I’m feeling 55 I think that’s where I’m at right now. 50% is about like, I feel good. 55 is like, I feel like I can do more. I want to do more. I’m energized. You Yeah, so that’s about where I’m at. And the top that I’ve been since quarantine started is about 75%. That’s just straight up the top I can get and that’s doing a lot of self care. So that’s where I’m at.

 

I’m probably at 40%. That lack of sleep, for sure. A lot of emotional mental energy in responding to the needs of the women in my community, whether they’re black women who are like, Hey, this is the message I’ve sent I’ve posted I’ve shared in terms of some are org to Latina, who are speaking up in the workplace as well to organizations who are looking for what do I say or counter what was said within my employer. It is so many and employers who, that’s a whole other story because a lot of you are going to have attrition, if you thought you had the pandemic was going to keep your attrition low, I can tell you, it is probably has changed drastically right about now. So you really need to pay attention to the things we’re going to be teaching and sharing. If you want to keep your attrition low, and not only listen to it, but take action with it, because I can directly tell you the messages I’m getting are I need a new job immediately, what do you have available? Do you partner with anybody in this city or state. So it is highly, highly important if your black employee base matters to you, because the things that are coming out now are going to have long term impacts on your life. Not only your company culture, but your ability to retain your talent as well as attract new talent. So, so that’s really important and telling for a lot of employers right now. Your messaging or lack thereof, and what what really is an ally so let’s get started let’s start with the A was the list a and ally?

 

Okay so we’re doing an acronym a Ll y, as you said, and the A is becoming aware. So awareness precedes action, you must be aware that there is a problem. You must be aware that you want to fix it or that you don’t want it to exist anymore. You must be aware of how you are connected to the current situation because we all are we don’t get to choose what we are not a part of if we’re not aware. So we will just be upholding racism Without awareness, And that, my friends is unacceptable. We now see in our faces every single day, and we’ve been shown that every single day, but now it has come to a boiling point. So we need to raise our awareness around society’s patterns of oppression and very specifically around black bodies around black communities being under resourced. And how do we contribute to that? Even so much as just ignoring it, not understanding it saying, Well, you know, I don’t have time to read that article, or it doesn’t affect me. Oh, honey, it does. This is our community. If we cut our left hand, it starts bleeding. Do you think the right hands like oh, well, lefthand you didn’t come help me? I’m not gonna come help you. That’s silly. We are the same body. Yeah. Okay. So that’s a

 

so so that that awareness is okay. It’s not ignoring what is being said. You’re aware of Now it’s combatting things that you never knew existed you thought didn’t exist, you thought was very limited. But there are multiple voices, millions of voices now telling you, no, this is real. And so in that awareness, what are you thinking? What are you feeling? acknowledge that as well, because you’re going as an ally come up against that, again and again. So what are those that what are those societal patterns that you’re seeing? So, when we look at awareness, and we look at societal patterns, we often talk about or I often talk about employment issues, right? So I want you for those of you who are in the workplace, whether you’re in DNI, HR, your hiring manager, I want you to look at your employee base, and look at those who have tradition. additional education and those who do not those who have degrees that are specific to their job roles, and those do not. And as you move up especially into technical roles, you will find out especially among black women, they’re highly educated. But they’re reporting to somebody oftentimes who is not as educated as them. Who has not had to go through as many interviews who are not as doubted about their education and technical ability. Look at the things that are asked of them in the workplace. How often are they asked to admin duties? How often are they assumed to be the admin at best right off, they may be asked if they’re the cleaning staff. So literally take those instances like I’ve never been asked to get coffee. Well, you know, but women are Oftentimes the admins don’t use that. Be aware of what you’re seeing and what they’re telling you. Right? Okay, so let’s go into the first L.

Okay, the first L is listen. So we need to listen. And a lot of folks are becoming aware that we need to listen. But I think part of listening that gets forgotten is that oftentimes we will do something called devil’s advocate, or we will interrupt or we will question people and ask them to provide more evidence, etc. Yeah. And that’s not listening. Listening is deep focus, listening. And then you can ask permission to say, Hey, can I reflect this back to you and tell you what I think I heard because sometimes when our brains have not heard of something before, or it’s just totally out of what we’re used to what our normal is, that we cannot process it. It’s confusing, it’s difficult and it usually attaches to like, prior knowledge that we’ve already gained. So if you have been living in a world where you think we’re post racial or it’s not that bad or whatever the story is in your head, there will be resistance, cognitive resistance, but that cognitive resistance towards a person who is telling you that they are experiencing oppression will cause them more harm. So you need to listen. And if that devil’s advocate comes up, go Google it afterwards. Don’t do it on them. They are giving you the gift of sharing their experience. That is a gift. They don’t have to do it. That’s it. Sorry, Michelle. we were talking about listening and not interrupting and not questioning and if our brains are starting to do the devil’s advocate, this doesn’t make sense. I really want to push back on this person. I would do one of two things I would do number one, when you’re listening to someone share an experience that you just your brain is having difficulty wrapping its mind around. Its understanding around Then number one, ask if you can reflect it back to them say, Can I reflect back what I think I heard, I just want to make sure that like you can clarify the parts that I don’t understand. Ask or they say no, I don’t want to repeat all that stuff. Fine. recognize what it is that isn’t making sense and Google it. Because if you go back to the person who’s sharing their lived experience, and they don’t want to prove themselves, rightfully so sometimes it’s exhausting to constantly explain things, then go to Google, figure it out, or maybe follow some of these folks on social media that are sharing a lot of information, a lot of great information. So those are the two things ask if you can reflect it back to check for your own personal understanding as an ally, because you want to deeply understand them, not because you want to convince them of something else, or number to go Google if they’re tired. They don’t want to do the whole explanation.

 

Absolutely. I guess I jumped ahead a little bit, but it worked out because we lost connection. So To that, listening,
yeah listening is is active. It is it is active. And when you are listening, you’re taking in like she said you’re not questioning, you can do the research yourself. But it’s also important that you are open to listen, meaning you can’t be doing other things. You have to be committed to stopping, not answering the phone not replying to email, shutting your laptop down, putting your phone on mute, be completely present. When you’re listening like you did know let’s say when the conversation started that it was going to go in a certain direction, then stop what you’re doing and still actively listen. It truly is and when I tell people I’ll be 43 next month, as to somebody just noticed on the calendar my birthday was, but when I tell them I saw the KKK March, they’ll say like, oh, but you’re in South Carolina. I said, Yeah, but I saw the Confederate flag fly in Illinois. Or I’ve seen, you know, the result of police brutality in Pittsburgh. And I’ve seen this in Oklahoma, then it’s like,
oh,
and so, if they had actively listen to me in the beginning, I’m then going through more of my trauma of the things that I’ve experience to prove to them that what I said is true. Do not put black people in that position again, to relive that. Do your own research. Talk with other people who work in this space, to understand to help you understand and grow better as an So actively listen.

KC:
All right, that’s right. All right, Nextel.

Yes, the next L. Okay. So the next L is all an ally keeps learning about brute and power dynamics affect the way the people, the way people are perceived. So an ally keeps learning about how group and power dynamics affect the way people are perceived. So, when you’re thinking about that,
when you’re looking at groups, what do you see when you look at Black people versus non black people, right, even if it’s other people of color, and what have those biases and those systematic racial things that come about? We are have the same black people. They’re like, Oh, black people are lazy. I was like, we were lazy after suddenly after slavery after we were free labor, we weren’t free labor. Right? So what are those things that people are saying that are that you’re like? That doesn’t quite make sense, right? So you’re you continue to learn and see how those the things that you are taught, right are not necessarily true, especially when it comes to systematic racism. Krystal, I’ll let you go from here. All right.

 

So sometimes when I think about learning about power dynamics and learning about group identity, I also like to remind people that we need to stay in nuance and not do black and white and not intended. But the nuance of, Okay, I let’s say I’m a black woman, but am I In a position that has more power than a black trans woman does, or a disabled person, or, you know, am I in the majority dominant group right now, and although I may be a queer white man, I’m still in the dominant group because I’m passing so learning about or or Latina lateen x community Hello, let’s go there. You know, we have white passing lateen x people, you get to move through the world in a certain way that brown or black lateen x people are not able and afforded to move through the world. So and then also, if you’re a white Latino person in Latin America, sometimes you’re also getting getting more privileges because white supremacy has traveled to these other countries and there’s colorism now, and it’s internalized. That’s the other thing just because I’m a brown woman doesn’t mean that I don’t have some of that anti blackness. If that was just put into me, I was pickled in the juice of white supremacy. And it’s terrible, because it’s so hard to get out. But the thing is, I’m constantly learning, how does it show up? And how do I root that out of me? learn that learn each time it comes up. So when Michelle was saying, Oh, well, you know, you were thinking, as a leader in a business, people are getting their job list, they really want their job. So we don’t really have to work too hard to keep them. Well, then now this has happened. And guess what? I’m looking at the companies that are saying something. And I’m also listening to the deafening silence of many organizations. And like Michelle said, we’ve been having conversation and in seeing on LinkedIn, people sharing their experiences, and it’s just not worth it to stay. For some in an organization where they’re unable to be supported. They’re expected to be like robots and just go to work as if we can just leave our personal life at the door, the virtual door now because we’re Living in our workplaces Now, many of us are still working at home. So anyway, there’s just a lot of things to learn. And I think that oftentimes, we just want to focus on the individual stuff. And we should also learn about the systemic stuff that happens because we, we individually have racism, but it started through systemic decisions and laws and policies that then help us help us believe in white supremacy. They don’t help us understand that it’s a lie that this is all socially constructed, that these are power dynamics. These are stereotypes that drive our behavior, to learn that stuff, get in, dig in. And when you you have the devil’s advocate, come up to your mind think, ah, this is just me not wanting to unlearn that we want to stay in status quo. It’s comfortable there. It’s very uncomfortable when we start saying, I have anti black black racism in me and I am pissed. And I don’t want this community in this nation or whatever. Wherever you are, to do this to children, and like it’s hard enough to get it out of us. So like, let’s learn about that. Let’s interrupt this racism stuff. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s too much, it’s, you know, 400 years too long, or even more than that.

So,
more than that now. So when we’re something I want it to keep in mind. An ally keeps learning about grouping power dynamics. You have seen this week, many of your employees, black, especially Brown, who have taken time off, who have spoken out. As an ally you are going to in the workplace, specifically, you’re going to have to show up, you’re going to see a lot of them if not most of them, get backlash. They understood the risks of speaking out and speaking up and taking a stand and when I say back Flash the lies that people are gonna say, well, you you were difficult to work with and you are highly aggressive. You are late to me like they’re they were on vacation. What are you talking about? Like the blatant things people are going to say that you like, hold up. And you’re going to start learning who is truly living in their power in the NFL, those power dynamics, and see how it is truly impacting the voices of black people. So it is like I say, it’s, it’s, we’re, we’ve said it’s learning and you’re going to see it so much in the next few days is already started. Um, people literally took the time off and people said, well, you were rude to me yesterday. They weren’t even at work on calls and if they’re working from home, and so nobody is like, What are you talking about? And so it has already started. So keep learning and going about like, What’s going on who’s saying what because you need to stay aware, again of what is happening to your black employees in right right about now, for even if they didn’t speak out, others are speaking out. You got to learn, there is a price for us pushing anti racism. Yeah. And making that change.

 

There’s research and studies have shown that if a white person and a black person say the exact same thing in the workplace, they will be received and perceived totally differently. So this is a great place in time for white allies, white passing allies, lateen x allies, anyone who feels that they are aware of their power in this in wherever their situation is. If you are aware that you have some amplify it, say it back them up. Say that you agree. Um put your voice on the line. with them, because in numbers there is power. Don’t leave our black community members standing out there alone and stand next to them stand in front of them and take it. I’ve seen some activists, white activists get in front of black activists to be the buffer between them and the police. How can we be the buffer in the workplace?
Yes.
How? How can we use it? How can we use our power our position?
yourself.

 

I’m thinking about that video and the young black man jumped the fence and a young white girl stood in front of him. And I’m just like, this is you, you’re putting it on the line. Um, and so you have to realize what you have to do as an ally, especially right now. Some of you have been in this space. You’re going to see a tremendous change in what you have to step into when it comes to being an ally right about now and probably for the next few years. So it I was talking to my mother, my mother’s 73. And she said this reminds her of when Martin was killed. And she went to an HBCU here in South Carolina. If you don’t know what HBCU is, I have a great tool for it is called Google. So that’s HBCU and how they tried to kill her and her classmates. Then they did kill one of her classmates in front of their college. Literally he was walking they ran up on the sidewalk and killed him. She was like this still feels like the 60s and she is 73. That says a lot about how much money We have not progressed since she was 21. And she’s now 73 and how the society is set up to have some believe we’ve progressed so far, when we really happen. Um, the the group and power dynamics are very strong. And that is on purpose. And that really does take you learning what that looks like, where it is stemming from, so that you understand how people perceive it. On on, on so many different levels. So I’m Krystal KC, we’re talking about passing as white Lena Horne. Early in her career, when she was able to do TV and it was black and white. They told her Hey, you can Pass for White. She said no. She refused to her career would have been so different. Had it stay black and white went to color they might have found out. Right. But if she decided to pass for white, what would that have done for her career? But what would that have done for her emotionally? And I’ve talked to Latin x people who are able to pass but refused to, or still feel guilt because people assume they aren’t Latinx. And it’s like, it’s a weight that they carry. But they also started to learn how they were able to leverage that to help those who were not white. And because they could get in those spaces, and make it make those decisions. So it was really, really interesting to talk to somebody who felt guilty Because they could pass in the assumptions that people made. But they learned how to manage it and use it to really be an ally to their own people. And so it was a fascinating because we don’t ever think about it, we think about Oh, you pass. Oh, you know, must be nice. But do they feel some guilt? Or did they take that opportunity to become an ally, to help others who could not pass who could not get into those spaces to make change? So it was a very different conversation that I’ve never thought about from that perspective of an ally who can pass so it is a conversation I’m actually having with somebody on my posts right now, one of my, my LinkedIn posts is about being able to pass so Okay, so we’re going to go to the why we spent a lot of time on them on that. The second l but it was needed. So we’re going to the why. So we talked about why this is my my favorite one. And ally says yes to using their power to help break down old oppressive power patterns by engaging in thoughtful strategic action. Let me back that up. I want to I want to, I want us to really focus on this. And ally says yes to using their power to break down oppressive power patterns by engaging in thoughtful, strategic action. See, you know, I’m an engineer. I’m an engineer and, and that strategic action is really important to me. So what we’ve seen is, yes, Black Lives Matter and their vintage air like Let me tell you what we got to do. They literally came out with four pillars. And, and Ben and Jerry’s is about this life point blank period, right in that period was a team not to do it. And it’s to do that. They’re about this life, meaning they understood and understand and have for a long time, what systematic racism is. So as your as an ally, you’re like, Oh, my God, Michelle, I can’t take it off. I just told somebody, pick one, which one of those pillars that they presented? Are you willing to dig into and say yes, as an ally, and it may not be a pillar working directly with Ben and Jerry’s, don’t get this confused, but as a pillar you can work on within the organization where you’re an ally for black people. What does that look like? So say yes to that, like if you don’t know where to start, they just make it easy. Go to Ben and Jerry’s calm.
Google, Ben and Jerry statement, pick a pillar and literally work through what is that strategy? What is that strategic action you’re going to take as an ally on that one thing within that organization, so make it and I’m about really getting very specific, very minute, and drilling in because when we’re everywhere, we get nothing done because we feel confused and overwhelmed. But really drilling one of those pillars down to what you can do instead of the whole world into this one organization. Right. And sometimes it’s not even the one or is that one Office of International Organization? Like Where can you make change for black people? Okay, Krystal.

All right. So I want to point out one thing the Why is little Last on purpose, okay, so you got to get yourself aware, you got to listen, you need to be comfortable listening, and not interrupting and not doing double that get, and then you learn so that you can be thoughtful and strategic in your action. Okay, so when we see these things happening in real time, sometimes we freeze, and we don’t know what to do and how to respond, sign that information. The next time I don’t want to freeze, I want to take action. I want to stand up for my black co coworker. How can I do that? Think about it. What would I do next time? How could I stand up for them next time or follow up with them and say, Hey, you know what, I saw what happened and I didn’t think it was cool. And I froze. Like, is this something I could be doing next time for you to support you or whatever I don’t know. Talk to people recognize it. So even if you’re freezing, say, how could I support black people? What can I do to benefit black people in my organization right now? So before you take action, you can’t answer that without learning without listening and without being aware. So you cannot answer the How do I support black people? If you haven’t done your awareness, listening and learning work, you just can’t. It won’t be strategic. It won’t be thoughtful. It’ll just be reactive. Yes, we’re mad and yes, we’re enraged. But then what? It’s just a flash in the pan, boom. Let’s build that solid foundation through awareness, listening and learning and then we take action finally. So that’s the one thing I want to say that it’s like, yes, we all want to take action. But be aware listen and learn. So go to those websites, go to Black Lives Matter. Go to freedom fund and understand why we need to put so much money into bail bonds. Like go figure out why. Why do some people not have help? insurance in my company and I do, why do I get mental health days and they don’t. And yet I’m in the dominant group and they’re in the marginalized group. They’re the ones being oppressed more. So once you have that awareness, you’re like, Wait a second, our essential workers are actually getting a death sentence right now, with that awareness, you’re gonna start listening, what would help you? What? Learning around like, when is this happened before? What are organizers doing that have been doing this work for decades? You know, just because we get upset sometimes we feel like I have to take action. And then we go and build something new and do something new and just make ourselves feel better. But at the end of the day, what and how is that benefiting our black community? I don’t know. Because I didn’t listen, I didn’t learn. But if I did, then now I’m connecting with people. It’s not just me alone, but I’m with a group and we have power. And we can make real change and move beyond just inter racism at the individual level and start breaking it down to systemic racism. So that’s why why is last that’s why action is last not because all the other ones are action as well. But awareness, listening and learning, those are all active. Awareness is questioning yourself looking at yourself, put the mirror up. Listening is action because you are asking someone and then you are asking them to reflect back what you think you heard so that you can cement it in your brain and understand it from their point of view. You’re learning that is active, that’s taking the two minutes to read the Twitter thread of a black woman sharing her experience in the workplace and then Say yes, say yes to those things.

 

Absolutely. I did. I don’t know if you get my my I don’t send out emails often I did during the pandemic that was of course to support the positivity community, but I literally shared my story of living in St. Louis, when Mike Brown was killed, and my then employers response was v safe, they’re protesting not understanding the danger I face as a black woman every single day, every single moment. So, it is truly important
to understand the role of an ally in that awareness and being strategic in your action, because it impacts us a lot of times before they impact you. So the action you take, they may not take it against you, just from power dynamics. They will take it against us. So it is true important that as an ally, you understand that you have to be strategic in those movements you make, because you are truly working to dismantle racism. We have a few comments in here and I and I don’t want to ignore them. I know it is not a it’s a timely topic, but it is also a heavy topic. If you are looking to like What are y’all talking through? What are you talking about? We put together like a quick sheet of like, what is an ally, a Ll? y. So you understand what that is on a more on a simple term. So absolutely, companies and one of the comments. Absolutely. If companies aren’t speaking up now, they’re doing a huge disservice to their team and their culture. Well, I don’t know if it’s a disservice to their culture because their culture it speaks to their culture.

 

Um, so We are upholding their culture by being silent. So they’re just showing their culture yes in silence so that

 

and if some have made statements to their internally to their orgs they never mentioned black blackness, murder, Black Lives Matter. It is we are all feeling this. You don’t feel what I feel. So, it so when they removed date completely erase black from the entire message. That is how you know, they do not get it. And their employees are sitting like why they knew it, but you just proved it. You have no clue what’s really going on and they’re looking at these messages going, you know what, Michelle? Um, you have anybody looking for a software engineer, a civil engineer, a structural engineer, mechanical engineer, whatever. Because they are on their way out the door you literally prove that the systematic racism is so deep in that organization you will not say black and, and not only that the people who are not black and who are not allies are now wickiup like they didn’t say black one, one word so Okay, um one of the other comments was Yes, I have so many good friends who are who organizations have not have not even taken the time to address the in justices we witness on television. I’ll say this. We look at the timeline in which employed or says something better Jerry’s was not the first, this was the most strategic response. That was the first. And so coming out of construction, it’s like we always get bids, but what is the most responsive bid? I know I like I always have these up off the wall comparison. But what was the most strategic response? Right? So people are looking at who responded, what timeline, what percentage, how many employees they have, what percentage are black? What percentage of their employees, their employees that are black are in management, in, in, in upper management in C suite and onboard? People are running that data? Trust me, they are looking hard. And so you are being scrutinized whether you say something or not. And you’re also being scrutinized on how you say it. So some of you like Oh, we don’t have to say this. Oh, Yes, you do. And it is even to the better your betterment to say I was wrong when somebody came and told me this than it is to say we’re all feeling this and completely erase blackness out of your message to your employee base. All right. From a corporate standpoint, I don’t understand how affinity groups based on race helps bill allies I need to understand that perspective. It really varies per organization. And you have affinity groups and you have employee resource groups, affinity groups, if they are aligned, if the if the organization is set up to take in the feedback from the affinity groups to make change, meaning there is an disruption So, for that affinity group literally has power and influence in our organization to make change, then it works when a sponsor only shows up for that keynote event for Black History money event, then you probably have the wrong sponsor, they are not speaking out and they are not making change in the organization. So, it is truly important to understand if you have a sponsor or a sponsor who is an ally that is truly going to use their power and influence to make change within our organization. So sometimes it the person that really drove it, retired diet quit, went moved on whatever and, and
things change over time. So it really depends also how long that it takes. And the group is and whether you need to come back in and say, Hey, this is what we need to be doing now. This was started 30 years ago, 20 years ago in the 90s, whatever in the 80s. This is what we need to be doing now. Okay, next and last comment we have Yeah, that is very true. It’s a great indication of culture if they aren’t speaking up my company speaking up and taking action. And I’m grateful to be here. Yes, that’s what I love. I actually have a friend who spoke up in an organization. The to C suite is an international organization. She’s Latina, she was like the messaging you sent does not address what is really going on. Um, and there is a power struggle between the US and the international office. The international office will not respond. The US office is like We need to be saying x, y, z. And she said, You know what, you can keep this I quit. Literally, she like the international office would not respond. She’s like, I do not work for an organization, nor will I work for an organization that will not address black lives and what they’re doing. She’s Latin x, she’s Latina. She said, I refuse. She’s like, because if we aren’t standing here now as an international organization, because we should be addressing anti blackness in the Latin x community. What does this really say about the organization? This is not an organization I can take a paycheck from, and she quit. And she is okay with that. And so you have allies that are going to come in and say you know what, this is not the place they are not looking to make change and you may find it a ally you had before your affinity group that was using their power and influence left, because their power influence was not as powerful and influential as they thought it was. Because the systematic racism was so strong, and they may have been the only one in that room at that table pushing it. So all right, Krystal, I know I talked through that so

good. Oh,
I would just like to say one thing. Um, as far as communications, I think a lot about communications through the lens of change management and crisis communication. And I think that all leaders need to be thinking about this as a crisis, just like you were thinking about it as a crisis during COVID coming, an arising in our community, I couldn’t stop I couldn’t get through my inbox because there were so many organizations talking about COVID. Yeah, I want to feel that sense. response from organizations in my inbox, and I’m not feeling it. I’m not overwhelmed by it. A lot of the folks I do follow obviously are in the space that I work in and diversity inclusion. So yes, of course I heard from them. But I mean, COVID-19 I didn’t even realize some people had me on their email list. I hadn’t heard from them in years. I was like, Ooh, this is great. This is helpful because I can unsubscribe. But the thing is, where where where’s this overwhelming emails coming from? For the crisis that we are currently in, which is disproportionate murder of black lives at the hands of police? That is what we are in the crisis of that we have been in the crisis for a long time, and protesters are basically making it so that we cannot look away. Thank you protesters. But just because protesters are making us not look away, doesn’t mean that we don’t just keep looking and then just say, Oh, that’s a shame. Take action. And silence. If you mess up, you know what’s worse than messing up is not taking responsibility for the mess up and saying, sorry, what’s worse than not messing up is being silent? Yeah. So when you mess up, it’s more important how you respond to the oops, than the oops. As long as you say, look, I tried, I’m willing to learn. I’m oops. That caused you harm. I’m going to educate myself and we’re going to do better. And that is in. In the tech space. We talk about Lean and Agile model. We build test learn, we fail forward, we’ll fail forward with this fail forward beat with being an anti racist. That’s my challenge.

 

I love that. Okay, so we’re gonna wrap it up there. We will be back next week Thursday talking about more about being an ally ally ship. Definitely. Comment here with questions things she wants to know about being an ally. Get the free download on so you understand more of what we are saying when it comes to a Ll y. And it it’ll help you kind of figure out where you are, as far as being an ally, where you’re falling short, where you can be improved and where you’re doing well, right? Because we use like, okay, I met the a part that is great. Okay, and now you know what, where are you in the A and where can you go to the next l? Right? You want to drop from the A to Why do I hold up now, we appreciate that. We appreciate your enthusiasm. But let’s go through the process. And it is really important that you go through the process and you understand what you’re about to undertake not to scare you away. But it’s not going to be a linear like hey, you’re going to go straight up and do well. We wish it were that easy there. There are high points and low points. There will be days, it will feel like this is free. This isn’t as difficult and every day is gonna be hard as hell. And you’re wondering how you want to get through it. But as an ally, think about it, you had one bad day, think about the struggle, we as black people go through every single day, every single hour, every single moment. And that is something different when you’re in your home and you’re safe, or we aren’t really safe. We’ve seen that you can be shot through your window of your home by the police, and it’s justified. We thought it was a burglary and never had identified themselves as the police, assuming we get here through a closed window. Right. So it is you’re taking on something and we appreciate it, but we want you to go through the process and understand what that is. All right. So we will be back next week Thursday at 1pm. East Coast time, overheard that it’s 11. And that’s 11am Mountain Time. So go Join us. We love to have you and if you get the download we’ll also have this video available on positive hire.co. forward slash blog as well. Starting on Monday, everybody, take care. do what’s best for your mental, physical and emotional health. We have worked at it. That’s right.
Thank you. Bye, everybody.