The Game Changers Episode 2

Now that we kind of gotten through this whole George Floyd situation in terms of the true peak of it, what's next? What are the action steps now that in 2 months when the hashtags are going away and people have now calmed down and everyone's, you know, acknowledge that Black lives do matter now, suddenly. What does our tomorrow look like?

Well, I think that's— that is the challenge, right? That's the challenge that's put across every person in this nation, and honestly, across the world, right? Is how do you view this and how do you progress? And I think that's What has to be answered is when all the feet have stopped marching, all the signs have stopped being put in the air, and when it comes time to create that meaningful legislation or make those actionable steps, where are you gonna be standing, Count It? When the actual rent is due on this process. And I think, you know, when you look at this, this is a very big issue that's been simmering below the surface, right?

So that's the trap that I think that we have to avoid is falling into that trap of, "Let's just keep talking." We've been talking long enough. Now you know what I'm saying. You've heard me. So what are we now gonna do after the conversations are over to now begin to really create actionable steps that are going to be laid out in a systematic way Will we now have benchmarks to track us along the way to make sure that, okay, we're here now, let's get to the next plan. We're here now, let's get to the next step. And so I think once we get to that point, now we can begin to say that all that we've experienced and continue to experience with this situation hasn't gone to waste, so to speak.

You know, I think we've visually seen it to where you can't avoid it, But at the same time, like you said, how does that stamina look? 'Cause this is a long fight.

It's a long fight.

It's a long marathon that you have to get to, and it starts root-based, local, right in your neighborhood, community, and city, and then starts to trickle up. You have to climb that ladder. But here's the funny thing, that ladder climbing doesn't start 'til November, right?

Facts.

There's a couple of special elections where you might be able to have some ordinance changes, but also understanding what all is involved in that. How do you look at policing? How do you look at a citizens' review board? How do you look at the, you know, the Office for Transparency and also have in creating that governmental task force that creates universal laws of policing? And how do they enforce that justice as a third party to evaluate so there's no biases in there? The judges.

Another point is, How do we look at our wording? I think that's something that is another trap that we gotta be very mindful not to fall into, where the sloganeering begins to take place. And the one right now that is very divisive is this whole idea of defund the police. Now, if people don't really take the time to understand what that means, you see the term, the slogan, defund the police, your mind now starts to go in a completely different direction of the true message of what it's about. I think that that is where we have to be mindful of our words, because if we want people to get on board with these actionable items, we have to make sure that these actionable items are reduced to their simplest forms, where there's nothing there that can be potentially misinterpreted. Because once you have that opportunity for misinterpretation, now I can keep everyone divided. Now it becomes about the conversation. Well, you said defund the police. Well, I say we should do this. Well, I think we should do this. Well, I think— now we start to get back into these pockets where we've now missed the mark on keeping the main thing— the main thing. And that goes back again, we have to be very mindful of our words, and then secondarily, we have to stay or keep top of mind that not everybody's an enemy. That's critical. Not everyone is an enemy. I saw something that a young athlete had said that if you're white and you're not posting about this, and you're not talking about it, and you're not screaming Black Lives Matter, then F you and you're part of the problem. That's not the smartest way to go about this. No. This fight isn't for everyone. But at the same time, we need as many allies as we can, but our allies are going to look different. Our allies are going to all play different positions. Some are gonna need, you're gonna need a left tackle. You're gonna need a center, you're gonna need two guards, you're gonna need a right tackle. Not everybody is intended to be the center. Not everyone is intended to be the left tackle. So you have to allow people to advocate in the way that they feel most comfortable. And I think that's another element again, Max, that we have to be so mindful of as we keep moving down this path, because there's so much emotion involved in this, and that everyone wants something now, now, now, now. You're not gonna get it now. It's not gonna all come, it's gonna be a systematic approach. We're gonna have to strategize in order to get from point A to point B, but we're gonna need everybody on the train. And more so, we're gonna need everybody on the train speaking the same language, using the right words, not just easy, simple-ass slogans that sound good when you say 'em, but when in reality, when someone else hears them, they don't hear it the way that it hears, you hear it in your head. And I think that's something that we have to keep top of mind is, What may sound good to me in the heat of the moment for me and my emotion, through my experiences, through my background, how does it sound to you when I say it? And if I need you as an ally, I have to be mindful of the words that I choose in order to keep you from not saying, "You know what? I heard you, but you know, I don't wanna be a part of that." Because you don't wanna do the due diligence of really trying to understand what I'm trying to say. So that's where I'm at with all of this. I want to see this train continue to move forward. And as you said, the stamina. We need to make sure that we have the stamina, but two parts of that is making sure that we don't continue to create polarizing dialogue, the wording that we use. And we have to understand that everyone's role in this fight is not going to look the way that we want it to look. Keeping that top of mind.