3 Essentials for Equality
[Music]
james baldwin once said that
not everything that is faced can be
changed but nothing can be changed until
it is faced when i was 19 years old i
was on a family vacation in south
carolina
and my grandmother let me my cousin and
her best friend who i was dating at the
time
to borrow the van and go out and have a
fun night at the local bowling alley
that was not too far from our resort
and we had a good time but no more than
about a minute or so after leaving the
bowling alley
coming up behind us we saw those awful
red and blue lights
that brings about a certain level of
anxiety and fear
in african-americans all across this
country there was a police officer that
had pulled us over
and it happened to be a white officer
and as he approached the van
he asked me if i knew why he pulled us
over now
being in an area to where most of the
porches were peppered with confederate
flags
i had a good idea why he pulled us over
it had nothing to do with the traffic
violation but everything to do
with the color of our skin however i
told him no i have no clue why he pulled
us over
he told me it was because we didn’t slow
down or yield at a yield sign that was
not too far behind us and when he said
this i really knew something was up
because we actually had to stop at that
yield sign for a few seconds
before merging onto a road that had a
lot of traffic
and i said well maybe he mistook our van
for another van and
i could tell that he took offense to my
defense and
he then asked me to step out of the
vehicle now at this point i was a bit
confused because i was just ready to
hand him my license and my registration
i knew the procedure and i said well why
do i have to get out
and then he raised his tone and then
told me to step out of the vehicle
now i wasn’t in a place to argue with
the officer and i didn’t want to
endanger anybody else that was in the
van with me so
i reluctantly got out and as i was doing
so
he told me to put my hands on the hood
of the van so as i began walking toward
the front of the van
i was suddenly yanked back having my
shirt ripped
and i just remember hearing my cousin in
the car scream because she had no clue
what the commotion was all about on the
outside of the van
i just remember instinctively turning
toward the officer and saying what are
you doing he told me to put my hands on
the hood
he said well now put your hands on the
back of the bag
and at this point i was a bit concerned
because i’ve seen and heard of
devastating stories
starting off just like this but i went
ahead and i put my hands on the back of
the van and he just began to search me
and to frisk me
while stating south carolina law to me
and as he was doing this
i heard an urgent call come through his
radio but he ignored it and just
continued to search me
and all i had on was basketball shorts i
now ripped a t-shirt
and slides on my feet yeah he continued
to search me i felt violated
and disrespected not just as a human
being but also as an african-american
i could tell what this was all about and
as he continued to search me i heard
that urgent call come to his radio yet
again
but fortunately this time he responded
to it he said i’ll be right there
and as he began to rush off he told me
to get on out of here
and stay in for the night now i’m
fortunate that the officer was called
away that night
that my situation was in that of
philando castiles
a black man who was also driving around
with his girlfriend
it was pulled over by an officer however
philando was shot dead
while still sitting in his car reaching
for his id
that the officer requested there are so
many others who are not here to tell
their stories of police brutality
like mike brown sandra bland
george floyd brianna taylor yes
we’re still saying her name and so many
others who are no longer here with us
so why do i bring this up what’s my goal
here
well when you zoom out my goal is to
help bring about more equality
in this country but when you zoom in my
goal is to help disrupt police brutality
to shed more light on it and to
ultimately help bring that
to an end on january 6 2021 as trump
supporters
stormed our nation’s capital what we
witnessed was a massive lack of force by
our police force against white trump
supporters
what we also witnessed was a
discriminative double standard not just
a privilege
that blacks in this country never
received what of those supporters those
rioters those insurrectionists were
black
i dare say we would have witnessed a
massacre
over the years i’ve spoken to many
professionals and students on how to
bring their goals to fruition
and i always provide them with three
actionable steps in how to help bring
this about
and the first of these steps is to have
a childlike imagination
now the reason why i say to have a child
like imagination is because
the imagination of a kid is rarely ever
damaged or limited rather
by the negativity of their past they’re
kids they’re young
they don’t have much of a pass to begin
with but there’s also still a bit of an
innocent ignorance that exists within
them
but a childlike imagination is one of
the things that we most admire
in revere about dr martin luther king jr
it was his ability to utilize his
imagination to
have a vision to have a dream even
despite the racial tension and turmoil
that
surrounded black america even while
blacks were being beaten by police
officers
while we were attacked by their dogs
while we were sprayed with fire hoses
he still imagined a better day beyond
these things
and still held equality in his sights
look police brutality is nothing new
it’s just now being streamed as well as
televised
for a moment just imagine if during the
field training process for an officer
they had to be immersed into the
communities in which they would one day
be serving by way of community service
aren’t they here to both protect and to
serve
just imagine if their fto which is the
field training officer actually graded
their performance their engagement their
interaction
with community members what i think we
would then find out
if these officers are even fit to serve
in these particular communities
it’s unfortunate but every officer is
not fit to serve and interact in every
single community
again it really is unfortunate but it’s
true
now just imagine we took just a little
bit more time to ensure the competencies
of our offices it takes four years to
become a teacher
it takes five to seven years to become a
lawyer it takes 10 plus years to become
a fully licensed doctor
but it only takes four months to become
a police officer
i truly believe that a number of things
can be changed
now this immersive process can help
develop something that has been totally
non-existent between
let’s face it white police officers in
the black communities in which they
serve
nothing that has been non-existent is
trust there is more of a fear
that exists as opposed to trust that
shouldn’t be the case
now will this immersive process help
make everything
sunshine and rainbows no of course not
but at least having something in place
that would ensure that
police officers truly knows those of the
community and that members of the
community truly knows who the officers
are
that can at least help develop some type
of mutual respect
and beyond this respect hopefully trust
can also be developed
beyond that trust the fear that exists
hopefully that can also
disappear but who knows this is just my
childlike imagination at work here
there’s a quote that says look at a man
the way he is
he only becomes worse but look at him
for what he could be
then he becomes all that he should be
let’s zoom out and not only look at
america for what it is
but let’s use our childlike imagination
to see america for what it could be
then we can soon step into all that we
should be
so that’s step number one to have a
childlike imagination
step number two is to need your wants
and what i mean by this is we’ll often
say that we want this and we want that
we want police brutality to stop we want
more equality in this country
but many times we don’t realize that our
wants are optional
like if you don’t get the thing that you
want you’ll just be willing to fight on
a different day to get that thing
so while your desire may be constant
your demand for them may be very
inconsistent
but when you don’t get the things that
you need that scars you deep
those are the things that you demand
constantly
i want you all to use your imagination
with me just one more time to really see
the difference between a want
versus a need so i want you to imagine
yourself right now in the desert you’ve
been there
all day the heat is excruciating you’re
hot
you’re dehydrated you’re thirsty what’s
something that you need in that very
moment
right water now if you needed water in
that moment you will find yourself
digging into a cactus with your bare
hands just to get that water out
why because your life depends on it you
need it
but if you only wanted water in that
moment you will find yourself walking
right by that cactus
and all the cacti in the desert looking
for an easier option
some type of pond or spring that will be
really difficult for you to find
and that’s the difference between a want
versus a need
when you need something you’ll be
willing to go all out to get that thing
your desire and your pursuit of that
thing will increase exponentially
we need to begin to show that we need
for police brutality to stop
that we need for laws and legislations
to be passed that will hold these
officers accountable for these brutal
crimes that they commit
that we need for black people to not be
looked at as a minor people
just because we’re referred to as
minorities
if we want to maintain the status of the
most powerful nation in the world
then we need to find ways to increase
the unity and not
enhance the divide personally i need for
my seven-year-old son
and his generation as they get older to
not have to have the same conversation
that we’re having right now simply put
we need equality so that’s step number
two
to need your wants and as you make this
conversion from a want over to a need
your pursuit will take you exactly where
you need to be
now the third and final step is to focus
on the journey
now look this will not be easy because
you’ll desire that end result that end
goal so badly that you’ll be tempted to
focus on that
but look there’s no need to that end
goal is already ingrained in you
your focus only needs to be on today’s
work all that it takes to get you to
your desired end tomorrow
now look i’ve been an athlete my entire
life and i’ve played sports from biddy
basketball with the west philadelphia
ymca
owned up to professional basketball
across the globe and i’ve been fortunate
to win a number of championships along
the way
and one of the greatest lessons i’ve
taken from that experience is this
at the beginning of every season our
team’s goal was to win a championship
in the end no doubt about it but what
our coaches did an amazing job of
was helping us to focus on today’s work
on today’s practice on today’s
conditioning on today’s game
that’s all that mattered they told us
what i call success of success
how to have success today when that day
is going and the next day comes
how to have success again that next day
is to just build on a day after day
and while we were so focused on the
fruits of the journey we would suddenly
look
up and boom our end goal was right
before our eyes
or in some cases we became mighty mighty
close
and the truth is that’s what it’s all
about making as much
growth making as much progress making as
much change
as you humanly and possibly can
malcolm x once said that change is only
a good thing
if you change in a good way let’s
embrace making a good change
enjoy the journey thank you