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