Co-authored with Vivianne Castillo (Founder/CEO of HmntyCntrd) for Fast Company magazine, we offer an analysis of the "Sunken Place", how it plays out in the Design world, the harm that is visited upon Black and Brown folk, and a critique of design leaders who maintain the status quo. We also explore and provoke the radical possibilities of imagining healthy choices in spite of an oppressive society. In other words, we say the quiet part out loud in this piece. Peep it!...
Black People individually and collectively do the routine work of healing and repairing ourselves at the emergence of a new hashtag, only to have to restart the process all over again the next week. Many of us in the community are eager for more than words of acknowledgement from leadership in our companies. Some white people are eager to "do something," but don’t know what to do. So, this article amplifies the voices of leaders who have been offering guidance in this space for years, in hopes so that white people can begin doing the personal work necessary for transformation and modeling for your teams, colleagues and peers.
If we are serious about furthering the recognition, cause, and socio-political agenda that undergirds the #BlackLivesMatter movement, then ALL Black Lives have to matter. Every. Last. One.
A Tribe Called Quest offered a contemporaneous alternative to the hardcore persona of the early 90s hip-hop scene. ATCQ normalized a casual, matter-of-fact confidence with respect to social presence that black men could adopt. They are hip-hop’s counter narrative because they demythologized and undermined the dominant structures that license to being “othered.” They did so while effectively carving out a niche for many musicians to come who might have otherwise been cast-out and labeled corny or soft, simply for daring to analyze the times through rhyme.