This Week's Opening Thought: October 31, 2022

Image description: A picture of Kool-Aid Man, a cartoonish human-sized pitcher of instant fruit punch with a stenciled-on smiley face, breaking through a wall. The words "Oh Yeah!" can be seen above him as the wall crumbles from the force.

This week's opening thought: if you see critiques of your industry from people, Global Majority folx, Black folx who work in your industry with ideas and solutions about how to repair these issues and the first thing that comes to mind is, "if you don't like [insert industry here] then you should get out?" Perhaps you're a part of the problem.

And please refrain from the whole "you're dividing our industry" jargon that people tend to trot out when they feel the need to defend their white supremacy ideology-driven professions. That's the response of someone who felt the words hit the nail on the head like a stake through the heart and don't want to sit with the discomfort of an honest evaluation.

If you've dedicated a part of your life to a career in an industry and you're not calling that industry to task for its lack of evolution and innovation or its lack of career progression and opportunities for marginalized, Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx, and Global Majority folx unless they prescribe to the throes of white supremacy?

You are drinking the Kool-Aid. It's not even good, Kool-Aid. It's Kool-Aid made with Sweet 'N Low. But you're comfortable conforming and toeing the line, so you're guzzling it like plants seeking water in the middle of a drought.

You might as well pour yourself another cup, continue sitting on the sidelines, and keep your opinion to yourself while the rest of us move our industries forward.

[Image description: A picture of Kool-Aid Man, a cartoonish human-sized pitcher of instant fruit punch with a stenciled-on smiley face, breaking through a wall. The words "Oh Yeah!" can be seen above him as the wall crumbles from the force.]

This Week's Opening Thought: October 24, 2022

TW: Antisemitism, hate.

This week’s opening thought: there has and will never be a justification for hate. There will never be a justification for antisemitism. There will never be a justification for defending a hateful and anti-semitic person as they inflict harm on others. Not mental illness, not some past experiences with one or two members of a community, not a narcissistic need for attention.

Nothing.

Please understand that justifying hate and antisemitism is more than just hanging a banner off the side of a Los Angeles freeway overpass while striking a Nazi salute. By not standing for the lives of Jewish communities, by not speaking up and being clear about your denouncement of this hate, you are passively supporting antisemitic rhetoric and views. Your stance is that the lives of Jewish folx in your community, of Global Majority communities in your city, aren’t worth your time and energy to stand with and support in dire times or any time. “Not wanting to get involved” or claiming you don’t have a viewpoint is you involving yourself and stating your viewpoint. And your “lack” of a stance? It is more than a stance. And it speaks volumes about how little you value the safety and lives of people in your community and workplace. Not standing in legitimate solidarity with your Jewish friends, coworkers, and neighbors is just as harmful as blatantly agreeing with and championing antisemitism.

Standing up and speaking out for those in your community who are receiving hate is not a stance; it’s a lifestyle. It’s a selfless lifestyle that does not seek ego strokes, constant validation from Global Majority communities, or gold stars and cookies. That is what being actively anti-racist and opposing hate and oppression in all its forms is.

Yes, we all need to be in solidarity and support our Jewish friends, colleagues, and neighbors right now. You also need to stand against and fight against antisemitism every day in every space, not just when it’s in the news cycle. Are you still going to stand up next week when newspapers shove the antisemitism to page seven? Or are you not planning to stand at all today, next week, or any day?

Your soul and humanity are about as holey as that one guy’s shoes.

To my Jewish friends, colleagues, and neighbors: I stand in solidarity yesterday, today, and every day of my life with you as you navigate these troubling times. You are not alone, and your lives matter.

P.S.: Don’t let the irony of a Black man with money and a need to be in the news cycle being patted on the back for championing antisemitic views and rhetoric by white people who hate his race pass you by. That’s the world we live in, folx. We should be working toward a better society, but we can't do that without acknowledging the generational trauma of hate that the United States was built on. You don't move forward without learning from what happened behind you.

This Week's Opening Thought: October 17, 2022

This week’s opening thought: one of your responsibilities as a leader is not to surround yourself with carbon copies but with people who bring new ideas to the table and will challenge you to evolve and listen to differing perspectives.

Groupthink does not generate progress.

If you’re a leader and your inner circle rarely or never calls you in, disputes your opinions, or offers alternative ideas and concepts that differ from your thoughts?

It says much more about you and where the company is headed with you as its leader than it does them.

Look at the culture you’ve cultivated. How could one expect anything more?

This Week's Opening Thought: October 3, 2022

Image description: a meme. The following words are at the top of the meme: "There's so much to learn about racism! Where do I start? Oh! I know! I'll ask every person of color I know!' Anti-Starter Kit." Below those words are the Google logo, a library card, a stack of anti-racism books, and the logos for Hulu, Netflix, and Prime Video.

This week's opening thought for white folx who recently "discovered" racism, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy: there are way too many learning tools at your disposal at this point for you to place your "learning needs" on the melanated folx in your life. 

There are thousands of documentaries, films, and literature on the abovementioned subjects. Yet some of y'all act as if you've never heard of Netflix or the library before. And I know y'all have heard of Netflix because some of y'all have some "opinions" about The Sandman that you've shared with myself and other melanated folx that clearly shows you have a lot of learning and unlearning to do.

Life isn't a school group project where somebody else does the heavy lifting, and you get a passing grade. You have to do YOUR part in YOUR unlearning and self-reflection - and that "your" part is, like, 95% of the work you need to do to maintain and sustain being actively anti-racist and anti-oppressive. That part has nothin' to do with my Black ass. People of color, Black people, Black women, do not owe you "free" learning experiences that cost us our energy, dignity, and peace.

You better hit up Google, Hulu, and the library, yo.

[Image description: a meme. The following words are at the top of the meme: "There's so much to learn about racism! Where do I start? Oh! I know! I'll ask every person of color I know!' Anti-Starter Kit." Below those words are the Google logo, a library card, a stack of anti-racism books, and the logos for Hulu, Netflix, and Prime Video.]

This Week's Opening Thought: September 26, 2022

This week’s opening thought: Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka is in the news for having a consensual relationship with a cis female staff member of the Boston Celtics organization. The fallout of this abuse of power has dominated segments of the news cycle for days. And yes, before anyone decides to go in on me, this situation is an abuse of power. We’re not going to debate that. And while I have a fundamental problem with people in power having relationships with employees in their organizations who have less power and stature within said organizations, there’s one thing that stood out for me in all the news coverage of Udoka’s indiscretions:

NFL football legend Brett Favre helped a group of white folx commit large-scale welfare fraud, and no one is talking about it.

A rich white cis male who made his money in a heteronormative sport is being investigated for blatant large-scale welfare fraud, and the press and the sports media have barely discussed it.

It’s not even second-page news at this point.

As the situation with Ime Udoka unfolds, its fallout should be the point of discussion around more significant conversations regarding abuses of power and control in our workplaces. But to act like Brett Favre and a group of white people who saw a system to exploit shouldn’t also be a discussion we should be having parallel to the Udoka conversation is surreal.

If we’re talking about abuses of power and privilege, we need to be talking about all of the abuses of power and privilege, not just the ones with melanated folx in the forefront as public figures.

P.S.: Impoverished Black folx in Mississippi are also at the forefront as public figures in the large-scale welfare fraud that Favre and his homies perpetrated. This fraud harms Black communities. The news cycles want to act like they aren’t at the forefront and that their harm isn’t worth discussing. If you learn one thing today, understand that whiteness will always use melanin to harm others, whether as full-on spectacles or bodies to sweep under the rug.