August 11, 2020 • 24 mins
Hosts Z and Jess discuss how the wealth gap among races is related to education, opportunities, and beyond.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey listeners.
We are back.
This is part two of episode, twoeducation as indoctrination.
We hope you enjoy your listeningto awaken
Speaker 2 (00:11):
In America
Speaker 1 (00:13):
On a journey to create dialogue about diversity
Speaker 2 (00:17):
And optimism,
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Right?
Yeah.
So when I think about, like Imentioned to you, my friends who
have been like, I feel like Ineed to do something, but I
don't know what to do.
You know?
And they've all bought books fortheir kids and, and racism and
they're white, progressive likeme.
And they think, you know, theydon't have a racist bone in
their body and stuff like that,but they want to do something.
(00:47):
What do you feel like actually,let's take a step back.
Cause I think this is animportant point to something
you've taught me.
You know, when we startedtalking about the podcast and
our goals and stuff like that, Ithought this is going to be
great.
People are going to listen tothis dialogue and they're really
gonna hopefully find some thingsthat they can connect with and
(01:09):
takeaways.
And they're going to feel likethey're connected to this
movement, mainly thinking aboutwhite people, you know, who like
me are kind of trying to figureout what they can do.
And then we talked a few weeksinto this and you basically were
like, that's not enough.
And I was like, but I'm givingthis all that I have.
(01:33):
You know, it's basically myfamily, my friends, you know,
I'm thinking about it so much.
Um, eat, sleep, breathing, youknow, podcasts, podcasts, and
doing everything I can.
But you were like, that's notenough.
It's not enough for people tojust sit and listen to something
or read something that doesn'tcheck the box.
And it doesn't, you're notrising to the occasion basically
(01:54):
is what I took from that.
And it was really hard feedbackfor me to take, because like I
said, I felt like I'm givingthis everything I have, but I
think it's an important pointthat my white friends, you know,
here also, which is, if you wantto make a difference, you have
to do something about it andtake action.
And that was kind of what youwere telling me.
(02:15):
So if I were to ask you, youknow, what do you think are
things white?
People like myself can do totake action?
You know, because basicallywe're seeking approval right
now.
I think all the, all the waypeople are going, are we doing
the right thing?
Are we doing right by people ofcolor?
What should we be doing to gettheir approval?
(02:37):
You know, what would you kind ofsay as it relates to education,
I guess today?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Um, I would probably say that, um, open your eyes to
all people of color in thiscountry first off, um, because I
don't want to exclude otherraces.
Um, as I mentioned before, thereare many biracial and
multiracial people in thiscountry.
(03:04):
There are a lot of nativeAmericans that are mixed with
Hispanic ancestry.
There are a lot of blacks thathave mixed with white or other
ancestry, whites.
I mean, so Indians Asian, Imean, so when we think of people
of color, we really need tobroaden our understanding of
(03:25):
what that is and, and acceptingthat we also need to look around
us and say, is it just impactingone group of people or is this
impacting several groups ofpeople?
And if it's impacting severalgroups of people and these
people integrate with us, howare we going to make this work
(03:46):
for everyone?
Um, one of the articles that Iwas reading about, um, an op ed
in a Forbes, um, it was from2015, but it was talking about
the racial wealth gap and itimpacts people of color
(04:07):
disproportionately.
Um, some of the other minoritieslike Indians Caribbeans, they
weren't included because they'rejust a smaller population, but
we need to consider allminorities because education
impacts all of us and where welive.
(04:30):
Uh, the funding that goes intothat is controlled by banks.
What the article said was thatthere is more volatility in the
market when we have this hugedisproportion and the wealth of
(04:52):
a society.
So unless we are striving tohave a class system in this
country, we really need toconsider how all these different
facets are impacting the wealthand the legacy of this
(05:14):
democracy, because it is alegacy of democracy.
This is a very new country andthe world is constantly looking
at us.
What kind of, what kind ofexample are we setting for other
(05:35):
countries if we aren't willingto make the changes ourselves in
this country?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah.
And one of the things that Icame across when I was reading
something podcasts or listeningor reading was being onboard
with having low income housingin your neighborhood, because
that ultimately is givingopportunities and narrowing the
(06:02):
wealth gap and the achievementgap, you know, because you can,
you know, if you're, if youthink you're not racist and you
think, you know, you wantdiversity for your children.
And I think there are a lot ofwhite progressives out there,
including myself who were like,I want my kids to go to a
diverse school.
I want to live in an open mindedplace and you know, all of this
(06:22):
and that you need to considerthat too.
That means accepting andwelcoming, right.
Things like low income housing.
Right.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And you know, what other countries like Holland and
some other European countrieshave done that successfully, you
know, you have the dominantculture or whatever, living
alongside immigrants, refugees,whatever.
Right.
And they seem to get along.
I mean, for the most part, youknow, there are probably
(06:54):
implicit biases there and racismas well, but it's not, to me, it
doesn't seem to be as impactfulas in this country because, and
I think that's because unlikeGermany, which actually has a
Holocaust curriculum forsecondary education here, we
(07:15):
have buried and buried andburied it.
Thanks to the what Uniteddaughters of the Confederate
that, uh, helped create most ofthe history books that are still
using schools today.
Thanks to them.
We don't have an accuratepicture of slavery, right?
We don't have an accuratepicture of, of, uh,
(07:36):
contributions by blacks or otherminorities in this countries.
Uh, this country immigrants, wedon't have an accurate picture
of what our society is actuallybuilt on.
Right.
So because of that, we alsoaren't acknowledging and
therefore, how are we supposedto move beyond that?
(07:57):
So my takeaway would be, um,there's actually w Kamau bell,
um, promoted it first, but it'scalled donors choose.org.
And it's helping to actuallyfund schools that may be under
resourced.
And you can choose how you wantto donate that's one way,
(08:21):
because even as early, as whatas, excuse me, as late as 2012,
um, Wells Fargo admitted togiving blacks and other
minorities, higher interestrates for mortgages, then
(08:43):
whites, higher prime subprimemortgages
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Just based on their ethnicity.
Wow.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So the racism continues today.
It's not 1950 it's today.
Um, and because of that, rightthen we can only afford to live
in certain neighborhoods.
Why is that?
(09:14):
Well that's because a typicalwhite household has 16 times the
wealth of a black household 16times, right.
And where does that come from?
Well, that comes from jobopportunities because typically
white people make more, why dothey make more black people not
(09:38):
have college degrees?
We know another sister sickbecause a white family of median
income from a four year degreesees a return of$55,869.
Versus if that same black personwent to a four year university
(10:02):
and came out their return ontheir investment is 4,100.
So what does that mean?
How does that translate toeducation?
How does that translate togenerational wealth?
How does that translate todecreasing the wealth gap, the
(10:24):
education gap and reducing thissystemic racism.
It means that until you addresssome of these other issues,
which continue to suppresspeople and create poverty and
create crime, because you'reputting people in places where
they don't have a way to supportthemselves or a way out or way
(10:47):
out, because now they have topay more.
After their four year degree,they have less reserves to take
care of their family in case ofa crisis or something.
Uh, they have less money to passon to the next generation so
that that generation can be selfsufficient.
And self-sustaining all thattrickles down.
(11:09):
So we need to consider, we needto consider taking action by
doing things like speaking toschool boards and saying, it's
not enough for you to have adiversity inclusion program.
Like what are you actually doingto bring the students together
and actually have meaningfulconversation?
(11:31):
What are you doing to bring theparents together to have
meaningful conversation?
And then how are you enablingmore minority children to
integrate the school?
Because diversity is not justabout black people.
It is about other people ofcolor, but we, to be careful
(11:53):
too, because sometimesuniversities, private schools
will say, Oh yeah, with diverse.
They don't want to have oneblack person in there.
Right?
They want to have one Hispanicperson in there.
They may have someone that'sAsian, or they may have someone
that's, let's say middle Easternand they will count that as
diversity, but in this Americathat we live, can you really say
(12:17):
you're diverse by having one ofanything, right?
I mean, that's just, it'sabsurd.
And it's also, in my opinion,it's somewhat absurd to think
that it's somewhat absurd tothink that people are going to
uproot their kids from a goodschool and put them into a bad
school.
It's not going to happen.
(12:38):
Correct.
So the only thing that canhappen is that you take it more
of you take more of the schoolsthat aren't doing well and you
shut them down.
And then you put more of thekids together.
And what that means is thereneeds to be increased
(12:59):
educational funding, but youknow, what's happening right
now.
And I don't want to go down awormhole, but educational
funding also comes fromagriculture.
How is our agriculture doing inthis state that we're in right
now?
How's our agriculture, becauseI've been hearing on the news
that we're not doing very well,that we're not doing well with
(13:22):
our trade relations with othercountries and selling our
products, overseas, agriculture,fun schools, too, not just
property taxes.
So our wealth in our educationfor our children are so
intertwined wines.
(13:42):
And we really need to considerthe politics that are going on
that also impact why theseschools are the way that they
are, why this community is orthe way that they are.
It all trickles down and wereally need to pay my, my advice
would be pay attention toeverything that's going on.
(14:05):
You can't just listen to thegood news.
You need to listen to all thenews and understand how it
impacts us as a society becausethere's more crime when there's
more poverty,
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Right?
So it actually affects everyone.
And it benefits everyone.
If we can work together and cometogether and integrate the
schools, you know, th that'sstill a thing for my white
friends.
And I think there's a differencebetween diversity and inclusion.
And that's a big point too, justbecause your kids go to a
(14:42):
diverse school, that's notenough.
That's good.
But you need to think about theinclusion component to how can
make, how can you set theexample for your kids?
How can you learn from peoplethat are different colors than
you and welcome them into yourlife and your home and your
family, you know, and,
Speaker 3 (15:02):
And how can we use our voices also for those
parents that like to be involvedin the PTA, you know, that are
very community oriented.
Why not get in front of yourschool board?
Why not go to those meetings andsay, you know what?
We want you to consider adiversity curriculum, right?
(15:23):
Not just for black history monthin February.
We want you to consider it forthe whole year.
If Germany can have a Holocaustcurriculum, why can't we have a
black history or in whatever youwant to call it, diversity
(15:44):
inclusion curriculum, and allour secondary schools.
Why can't we do that?
Why can't we address slavery andthe changes that have needed to
occur for some time?
Why can't we address those inour history books so that kids
can start processing thatinformation earlier on, they
(16:06):
start to see that, Oh, wow.
Slaves were treated that way.
Oh, so my ancestors, right.
That's crazy.
It is, but what can we do now tolearn from that?
It doesn't happen again,
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Right?
Yeah.
And to your point about, youknow, things that PTA boards
feel passionately about, thereare, you know, a lot of things,
as it relates to children,allergies, you know, in schools,
not free schools, that's been awhole thing that's affected my
family.
Personally.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Every school now has something about it, don't they?
Right?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Anti-bullying, that's something, every parent, you
know, if you've got a heart atall can get behind why can't we
make this a priority in the sameechelon as those things were
good intention, white peopletrying to do better and make
things better.
That's something that you can donow, um, to help pave the way
(17:11):
for your kids.
And you'll learn, you know,yourself too, along the way.
And, um, I know we're talkingabout education, but I feel like
if I were still working in anoffice environment, like I used
to, this is a time that you canalso raise that within your
organization about, you know,instead of sending out an email
about black history month orwhatever, whatever, if you're
(17:35):
lucky, I guess, but, um, youknow, what are you actually
doing to make your coworkersthat are minorities feel
included?
Um, you know, making sure thatyou're honoring all the
different cultures that arebeing represented in workplace
too, because that's, that's alsoimportant, you know, for us as
adults, that aren't, um, youngschool, age children, we are
(17:58):
part of this too.
And educating the responsibilityis on us too, even though, you
know, we're adults educateourselves and learn from people
of other colors.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yes.
And what, what internships andopportunities can you offer to
children, people of color, to beable to come into these
organizations and make some ofthese changes, you know, because
the talent, you know, we have awide talent pool.
It's not like talent is only inone race.
Right.
But what we have isdiscrimination, even at the HR
(18:31):
point.
So if her name is ethnic, as wecall it or something, or they
look at your LinkedIn profilepicture, or what have you, and
you don't fit well, I don'tthink that I would really hang
out with that person after work.
Um, I don't think that theculture, culture, you know, all
(18:52):
of that also is systemic andsystemic because it's, it's
decreasing access is decreasingaccess.
And our ability to basically putfunding back into our own
communities, a lot of peoplewill say, well, why don't they
just put the money back into thecommunity?
Like other people do?
Or what have you, but look atthe numbers again, 55,869 versus
(19:18):
4,800, right?
I mean, what, what money are youtalking about putting back?
So let's, let's broaden ourhorizon for the talent pool and
let's, let's not use ourimplicit bias right now to
eliminate people before we evengive them a chance.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Right.
And my white friends that areinvolved in recruiting and
hiring now is the time to reallyseize this opportunity to make
some changes that are meaningfulwithin your organization.
You know, look at someAfrican-American dominant
universities for recruiting.
Don't just go to the same fiveschools where, you know, it's
(19:59):
more people like you, you know,um, it might be sort of a
radical change, but if we don'tdo it now, I mean, this is the
best opportunity we may have inour lifetime to make a
difference and make somethingcount within our immediate, our
tiny little world, you know?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Yes.
For lasting change.
Yup.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
So I think that is pretty much everything I wanted
to cover.
Is there anything else youwanted to cover as it relates to
education?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
No.
I think that those are greatstarting points.
I hope that the takeaways didn'tget lost in the moment, but
basically there are ways to getinvolved.
There are like, again, donorschoose that org.
There are ways that you cancontribute what your voice is
powerful.
(20:55):
Your writing is powerful.
Everybody knows somebody, youmay know a superintendent.
Uh, you may know a Dean at auniversity.
Why not speak to those peopleand say, what are you doing to
have more diversity?
What are you physically doing?
Not just writing a memo, butwhat are you actually doing?
(21:18):
Are you having conversationswith black communities?
And were you havingconversations with black
universities?
What is your talent pool looklike?
Um, and then for the lower, forthe lower grades where you know
that there's a school perhapsadjacent to the community you
live in, that is not going tohave the same resources.
(21:38):
Are you considering donating tothat school instead of your own
school?
Perhaps.
What about a drive for anotherschool?
You know, like those types ofsimple things are ways that once
we started, we can have atrickle down effect in a print
(21:59):
on the precedent.
Yes.
And getting it on the recordthat yes, we do want a diverse
curriculum and we want our kidsto know the truth.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
All right.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Well guys, I think that's been a lot to digest in
this one episode.
I hope that you're stillplanning to stay with us because
we have a lot more content tocover.
And the optimistic part that webring today is it is doable.
(22:40):
Change is possible.
We've seen that change canoccur, but we need a United
front.
We need to work together and weneed to find ways we're very
resourceful people, all of us,we need to find ways to make
this a priority, not just forourselves, but just like for the
(23:02):
environment.
We're thinking about generationsahead so that we can all be
proud to say that we'reAmericans and all experience
equality.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah.
And just one thing I wanted toadd too, I think we white people
who are good intentioned, whiteprogressives who want to help
this inequality.
We need to acknowledge, we haveto be willing to give something
to this cause in order to makethings more equal.
(23:37):
So think about that and thinkabout what you can do, whether
it's monetary or volunteering
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Relationship building this, isn't going to get better
until more white people arewilling to accept that in order
to make things more equal, theyhave to give something.
Totally agreed.
Well, thanks guys for listening.
It's been great.
And we can wait to talk to youagain.
(24:14):
Thank you for listening toawakened in America.
If you enjoyed today's podcast,be sure to subscribe and leave a
review.
You can also find us onInstagram at awakened in
America, awakened underscoreunderscore America, and remember
be mindful, be grateful.
(24:37):
And most of all.
Hey listeners.
We are back.
This is part two of episode, twoeducation as indoctrination.
We hope you enjoy your listeningto awaken
Speaker 2 (00:11):
In America
Speaker 1 (00:13):
On a journey to create dialogue about diversity
Speaker 2 (00:17):
And optimism,
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Right?
Yeah.
So when I think about, like Imentioned to you, my friends who
have been like, I feel like Ineed to do something, but I
don't know what to do.
You know?
And they've all bought books fortheir kids and, and racism and
they're white, progressive likeme.
And they think, you know, theydon't have a racist bone in
their body and stuff like that,but they want to do something.
(00:47):
What do you feel like actually,let's take a step back.
Cause I think this is animportant point to something
you've taught me.
You know, when we startedtalking about the podcast and
our goals and stuff like that, Ithought this is going to be
great.
People are going to listen tothis dialogue and they're really
gonna hopefully find some thingsthat they can connect with and
(01:09):
takeaways.
And they're going to feel likethey're connected to this
movement, mainly thinking aboutwhite people, you know, who like
me are kind of trying to figureout what they can do.
And then we talked a few weeksinto this and you basically were
like, that's not enough.
And I was like, but I'm givingthis all that I have.
(01:33):
You know, it's basically myfamily, my friends, you know,
I'm thinking about it so much.
Um, eat, sleep, breathing, youknow, podcasts, podcasts, and
doing everything I can.
But you were like, that's notenough.
It's not enough for people tojust sit and listen to something
or read something that doesn'tcheck the box.
And it doesn't, you're notrising to the occasion basically
(01:54):
is what I took from that.
And it was really hard feedbackfor me to take, because like I
said, I felt like I'm givingthis everything I have, but I
think it's an important pointthat my white friends, you know,
here also, which is, if you wantto make a difference, you have
to do something about it andtake action.
And that was kind of what youwere telling me.
(02:15):
So if I were to ask you, youknow, what do you think are
things white?
People like myself can do totake action?
You know, because basicallywe're seeking approval right
now.
I think all the, all the waypeople are going, are we doing
the right thing?
Are we doing right by people ofcolor?
What should we be doing to gettheir approval?
(02:37):
You know, what would you kind ofsay as it relates to education,
I guess today?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Um, I would probably say that, um, open your eyes to
all people of color in thiscountry first off, um, because I
don't want to exclude otherraces.
Um, as I mentioned before, thereare many biracial and
multiracial people in thiscountry.
(03:04):
There are a lot of nativeAmericans that are mixed with
Hispanic ancestry.
There are a lot of blacks thathave mixed with white or other
ancestry, whites.
I mean, so Indians Asian, Imean, so when we think of people
of color, we really need tobroaden our understanding of
(03:25):
what that is and, and acceptingthat we also need to look around
us and say, is it just impactingone group of people or is this
impacting several groups ofpeople?
And if it's impacting severalgroups of people and these
people integrate with us, howare we going to make this work
(03:46):
for everyone?
Um, one of the articles that Iwas reading about, um, an op ed
in a Forbes, um, it was from2015, but it was talking about
the racial wealth gap and itimpacts people of color
(04:07):
disproportionately.
Um, some of the other minoritieslike Indians Caribbeans, they
weren't included because they'rejust a smaller population, but
we need to consider allminorities because education
impacts all of us and where welive.
(04:30):
Uh, the funding that goes intothat is controlled by banks.
What the article said was thatthere is more volatility in the
market when we have this hugedisproportion and the wealth of
(04:52):
a society.
So unless we are striving tohave a class system in this
country, we really need toconsider how all these different
facets are impacting the wealthand the legacy of this
(05:14):
democracy, because it is alegacy of democracy.
This is a very new country andthe world is constantly looking
at us.
What kind of, what kind ofexample are we setting for other
(05:35):
countries if we aren't willingto make the changes ourselves in
this country?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah.
And one of the things that Icame across when I was reading
something podcasts or listeningor reading was being onboard
with having low income housingin your neighborhood, because
that ultimately is givingopportunities and narrowing the
(06:02):
wealth gap and the achievementgap, you know, because you can,
you know, if you're, if youthink you're not racist and you
think, you know, you wantdiversity for your children.
And I think there are a lot ofwhite progressives out there,
including myself who were like,I want my kids to go to a
diverse school.
I want to live in an open mindedplace and you know, all of this
(06:22):
and that you need to considerthat too.
That means accepting andwelcoming, right.
Things like low income housing.
Right.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And you know, what other countries like Holland and
some other European countrieshave done that successfully, you
know, you have the dominantculture or whatever, living
alongside immigrants, refugees,whatever.
Right.
And they seem to get along.
I mean, for the most part, youknow, there are probably
(06:54):
implicit biases there and racismas well, but it's not, to me, it
doesn't seem to be as impactfulas in this country because, and
I think that's because unlikeGermany, which actually has a
Holocaust curriculum forsecondary education here, we
(07:15):
have buried and buried andburied it.
Thanks to the what Uniteddaughters of the Confederate
that, uh, helped create most ofthe history books that are still
using schools today.
Thanks to them.
We don't have an accuratepicture of slavery, right?
We don't have an accuratepicture of, of, uh,
(07:36):
contributions by blacks or otherminorities in this countries.
Uh, this country immigrants, wedon't have an accurate picture
of what our society is actuallybuilt on.
Right.
So because of that, we alsoaren't acknowledging and
therefore, how are we supposedto move beyond that?
(07:57):
So my takeaway would be, um,there's actually w Kamau bell,
um, promoted it first, but it'scalled donors choose.org.
And it's helping to actuallyfund schools that may be under
resourced.
And you can choose how you wantto donate that's one way,
(08:21):
because even as early, as whatas, excuse me, as late as 2012,
um, Wells Fargo admitted togiving blacks and other
minorities, higher interestrates for mortgages, then
(08:43):
whites, higher prime subprimemortgages
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Just based on their ethnicity.
Wow.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So the racism continues today.
It's not 1950 it's today.
Um, and because of that, rightthen we can only afford to live
in certain neighborhoods.
Why is that?
(09:14):
Well that's because a typicalwhite household has 16 times the
wealth of a black household 16times, right.
And where does that come from?
Well, that comes from jobopportunities because typically
white people make more, why dothey make more black people not
(09:38):
have college degrees?
We know another sister sickbecause a white family of median
income from a four year degreesees a return of$55,869.
Versus if that same black personwent to a four year university
(10:02):
and came out their return ontheir investment is 4,100.
So what does that mean?
How does that translate toeducation?
How does that translate togenerational wealth?
How does that translate todecreasing the wealth gap, the
(10:24):
education gap and reducing thissystemic racism.
It means that until you addresssome of these other issues,
which continue to suppresspeople and create poverty and
create crime, because you'reputting people in places where
they don't have a way to supportthemselves or a way out or way
(10:47):
out, because now they have topay more.
After their four year degree,they have less reserves to take
care of their family in case ofa crisis or something.
Uh, they have less money to passon to the next generation so
that that generation can be selfsufficient.
And self-sustaining all thattrickles down.
(11:09):
So we need to consider, we needto consider taking action by
doing things like speaking toschool boards and saying, it's
not enough for you to have adiversity inclusion program.
Like what are you actually doingto bring the students together
and actually have meaningfulconversation?
(11:31):
What are you doing to bring theparents together to have
meaningful conversation?
And then how are you enablingmore minority children to
integrate the school?
Because diversity is not justabout black people.
It is about other people ofcolor, but we, to be careful
(11:53):
too, because sometimesuniversities, private schools
will say, Oh yeah, with diverse.
They don't want to have oneblack person in there.
Right?
They want to have one Hispanicperson in there.
They may have someone that'sAsian, or they may have someone
that's, let's say middle Easternand they will count that as
diversity, but in this Americathat we live, can you really say
(12:17):
you're diverse by having one ofanything, right?
I mean, that's just, it'sabsurd.
And it's also, in my opinion,it's somewhat absurd to think
that it's somewhat absurd tothink that people are going to
uproot their kids from a goodschool and put them into a bad
school.
It's not going to happen.
(12:38):
Correct.
So the only thing that canhappen is that you take it more
of you take more of the schoolsthat aren't doing well and you
shut them down.
And then you put more of thekids together.
And what that means is thereneeds to be increased
(12:59):
educational funding, but youknow, what's happening right
now.
And I don't want to go down awormhole, but educational
funding also comes fromagriculture.
How is our agriculture doing inthis state that we're in right
now?
How's our agriculture, becauseI've been hearing on the news
that we're not doing very well,that we're not doing well with
(13:22):
our trade relations with othercountries and selling our
products, overseas, agriculture,fun schools, too, not just
property taxes.
So our wealth in our educationfor our children are so
intertwined wines.
(13:42):
And we really need to considerthe politics that are going on
that also impact why theseschools are the way that they
are, why this community is orthe way that they are.
It all trickles down and wereally need to pay my, my advice
would be pay attention toeverything that's going on.
(14:05):
You can't just listen to thegood news.
You need to listen to all thenews and understand how it
impacts us as a society becausethere's more crime when there's
more poverty,
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Right?
So it actually affects everyone.
And it benefits everyone.
If we can work together and cometogether and integrate the
schools, you know, th that'sstill a thing for my white
friends.
And I think there's a differencebetween diversity and inclusion.
And that's a big point too, justbecause your kids go to a
(14:42):
diverse school, that's notenough.
That's good.
But you need to think about theinclusion component to how can
make, how can you set theexample for your kids?
How can you learn from peoplethat are different colors than
you and welcome them into yourlife and your home and your
family, you know, and,
Speaker 3 (15:02):
And how can we use our voices also for those
parents that like to be involvedin the PTA, you know, that are
very community oriented.
Why not get in front of yourschool board?
Why not go to those meetings andsay, you know what?
We want you to consider adiversity curriculum, right?
(15:23):
Not just for black history monthin February.
We want you to consider it forthe whole year.
If Germany can have a Holocaustcurriculum, why can't we have a
black history or in whatever youwant to call it, diversity
(15:44):
inclusion curriculum, and allour secondary schools.
Why can't we do that?
Why can't we address slavery andthe changes that have needed to
occur for some time?
Why can't we address those inour history books so that kids
can start processing thatinformation earlier on, they
(16:06):
start to see that, Oh, wow.
Slaves were treated that way.
Oh, so my ancestors, right.
That's crazy.
It is, but what can we do now tolearn from that?
It doesn't happen again,
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Right?
Yeah.
And to your point about, youknow, things that PTA boards
feel passionately about, thereare, you know, a lot of things,
as it relates to children,allergies, you know, in schools,
not free schools, that's been awhole thing that's affected my
family.
Personally.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Every school now has something about it, don't they?
Right?
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Anti-bullying, that's something, every parent, you
know, if you've got a heart atall can get behind why can't we
make this a priority in the sameechelon as those things were
good intention, white peopletrying to do better and make
things better.
That's something that you can donow, um, to help pave the way
(17:11):
for your kids.
And you'll learn, you know,yourself too, along the way.
And, um, I know we're talkingabout education, but I feel like
if I were still working in anoffice environment, like I used
to, this is a time that you canalso raise that within your
organization about, you know,instead of sending out an email
about black history month orwhatever, whatever, if you're
(17:35):
lucky, I guess, but, um, youknow, what are you actually
doing to make your coworkersthat are minorities feel
included?
Um, you know, making sure thatyou're honoring all the
different cultures that arebeing represented in workplace
too, because that's, that's alsoimportant, you know, for us as
adults, that aren't, um, youngschool, age children, we are
(17:58):
part of this too.
And educating the responsibilityis on us too, even though, you
know, we're adults educateourselves and learn from people
of other colors.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yes.
And what, what internships andopportunities can you offer to
children, people of color, to beable to come into these
organizations and make some ofthese changes, you know, because
the talent, you know, we have awide talent pool.
It's not like talent is only inone race.
Right.
But what we have isdiscrimination, even at the HR
(18:31):
point.
So if her name is ethnic, as wecall it or something, or they
look at your LinkedIn profilepicture, or what have you, and
you don't fit well, I don'tthink that I would really hang
out with that person after work.
Um, I don't think that theculture, culture, you know, all
(18:52):
of that also is systemic andsystemic because it's, it's
decreasing access is decreasingaccess.
And our ability to basically putfunding back into our own
communities, a lot of peoplewill say, well, why don't they
just put the money back into thecommunity?
Like other people do?
Or what have you, but look atthe numbers again, 55,869 versus
(19:18):
4,800, right?
I mean, what, what money are youtalking about putting back?
So let's, let's broaden ourhorizon for the talent pool and
let's, let's not use ourimplicit bias right now to
eliminate people before we evengive them a chance.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Right.
And my white friends that areinvolved in recruiting and
hiring now is the time to reallyseize this opportunity to make
some changes that are meaningfulwithin your organization.
You know, look at someAfrican-American dominant
universities for recruiting.
Don't just go to the same fiveschools where, you know, it's
(19:59):
more people like you, you know,um, it might be sort of a
radical change, but if we don'tdo it now, I mean, this is the
best opportunity we may have inour lifetime to make a
difference and make somethingcount within our immediate, our
tiny little world, you know?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Yes.
For lasting change.
Yup.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
So I think that is pretty much everything I wanted
to cover.
Is there anything else youwanted to cover as it relates to
education?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
No.
I think that those are greatstarting points.
I hope that the takeaways didn'tget lost in the moment, but
basically there are ways to getinvolved.
There are like, again, donorschoose that org.
There are ways that you cancontribute what your voice is
powerful.
(20:55):
Your writing is powerful.
Everybody knows somebody, youmay know a superintendent.
Uh, you may know a Dean at auniversity.
Why not speak to those peopleand say, what are you doing to
have more diversity?
What are you physically doing?
Not just writing a memo, butwhat are you actually doing?
(21:18):
Are you having conversationswith black communities?
And were you havingconversations with black
universities?
What is your talent pool looklike?
Um, and then for the lower, forthe lower grades where you know
that there's a school perhapsadjacent to the community you
live in, that is not going tohave the same resources.
(21:38):
Are you considering donating tothat school instead of your own
school?
Perhaps.
What about a drive for anotherschool?
You know, like those types ofsimple things are ways that once
we started, we can have atrickle down effect in a print
(21:59):
on the precedent.
Yes.
And getting it on the recordthat yes, we do want a diverse
curriculum and we want our kidsto know the truth.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
All right.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Well guys, I think that's been a lot to digest in
this one episode.
I hope that you're stillplanning to stay with us because
we have a lot more content tocover.
And the optimistic part that webring today is it is doable.
(22:40):
Change is possible.
We've seen that change canoccur, but we need a United
front.
We need to work together and weneed to find ways we're very
resourceful people, all of us,we need to find ways to make
this a priority, not just forourselves, but just like for the
(23:02):
environment.
We're thinking about generationsahead so that we can all be
proud to say that we'reAmericans and all experience
equality.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah.
And just one thing I wanted toadd too, I think we white people
who are good intentioned, whiteprogressives who want to help
this inequality.
We need to acknowledge, we haveto be willing to give something
to this cause in order to makethings more equal.
(23:37):
So think about that and thinkabout what you can do, whether
it's monetary or volunteering
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Relationship building this, isn't going to get better
until more white people arewilling to accept that in order
to make things more equal, theyhave to give something.
Totally agreed.
Well, thanks guys for listening.
It's been great.
And we can wait to talk to youagain.
(24:14):
Thank you for listening toawakened in America.
If you enjoyed today's podcast,be sure to subscribe and leave a
review.
You can also find us onInstagram at awakened in
America, awakened underscoreunderscore America, and remember
be mindful, be grateful.
(24:37):
And most of all.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.