Louis Carter and Terry Jackson reflect on George Floyd's murder and Dave Chappelle's 8:46 performance, arguing that fighting racism means deconstructing the beliefs and systems that sustain it, then rebuilding with love-based principles. They call on corporate leaders to embed inclusion into their cultures and address systemic change in policing.
Chapters
You know, how this idea came about was, of course, you know, the George Floyd incident happened. And let's talk about deconstructing racism and reconstructing love, because we can— in order to love yourself, you have to be able to deconstruct yourself and see exactly what it is that makes you who you are, right?. And then when you're talking about reconstructing with love, we want to take a look at what are the components or the elements that make up love, and then see how we can bridge the gap between those who practice this thing we know as racism and bringing them over into the love pieces. So that's how it all began. I'm a big Dave Chappelle fan, right? And so he did a piece, he did a piece, uh, 846. You probably have viewed the piece.
This man kneeled on a man's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Can you imagine that? This kid thought he was gonna die. He knew he was gonna die. He called for his mother.
But you really saw in him a passion and a real concern in that piece about what actually happened what one human being did to another human being, you know, how he emphasized, you know, and how he tied it together. Because he said, you know, 8 minutes and 46 seconds, they killed this man. But he said he couldn't get that out of his head because his time of birth was at 8:46. And so how it resonated with him and how how you got, you know, you saw a different Dave in that, in that particular piece. He's still a great comedian, but you saw the humanity come out of him around what he actually saw and what the other people, uh, and what George had to experience, uh, for that 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
You know, it's, yeah, right there when I watched that tape.
I understood this man knew he was gonna die. People watched it, people filmed it, and for some reason that I still don't understand, all these police had their hands in their pockets. Who are you talking to? What are you signifying, that you can kneel on a man's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds and feel like you wouldn't get the wrath of God.
I mean, right, it's those kinds of universe parallels that happen. 9/11, waking up, it happened at 9/11. It's the world coming together and showing up like a picture. That this must be seen, it must stop, there must be a change, and there can be no more— it can't be any more obvious, right? It's just—
that's right, that's right. Now, we as teachers of leaders have to be able to go in and have these conversations with leaders to teach them, hey, you know, corporate cultures have to change, your responsibilities to society has to change, because as leaders You know, inclusion should be what is natural, not exclusion.
Learning agility and inclusion is the new way we develop. It's the core of strategy. Because without inclusion, without diversity, we have no appreciation for our customers or the people who work with us. How are you going to do business if you can't respect the people who buy from you and who— and love them? And work with you. It's just not— there's no math to it. I mean, the last time I did math, that doesn't add up.
It doesn't add up. And we strip it all down to humanity, right? I'm a human being and you're a human being, and so let's work together as, as human beings. And so you should have the same opportunity that I have regardless of the hue of my skin because We know that, you know, race is a man-made construct, right? For lots of reasons, we, we know that that was created. So now we're at the point where we can not necessarily eradicate it 100%, but have a better understanding of what it means to be human, right? You know, that's all we're asking. That's all that anyone has ever asked, is give me the same opportunity that you would give another human being, because That's exactly who I am. And so now this, this conversation is going into corporate America. And to be honest with you, it should have been a part of corporate America when it was in its inception.
Candace Owen, she told George Floyd's rap record on the internet, oh, he was, uh, this, he did that, and he was— he's chug addict, and he's not a hero. And why does the Black community make him a hero? Why do you choose him as a hero? We didn't choose him, you did. They killed him, and that wasn't right, so he's the guy.
I could have been George Floyd on a couple of occasions, right? Um, not doing anything really, uh, wrong, but you know, for whatever reason, you know, all it takes is one bad stop, one officer in a not so good mood that day for someone not to go home. And basically all I'm saying is I want to go home. When I get stopped by the officer, I just want to make it home.
