A Challenge for Everyone...

First, Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there.

Juneteenth was my first travel day alone in months. I spent the day listening to White Fragility, beginning to end.

I grew up in Gary, Indiana a predominantly Black city, before moving at 14 to an incredible community nearby which I loved, but was virtually all white. My high school was comprised of a solid mix of students across race and ethnicity, and I cherish many friends across race from my youth to this day - 40 years later.

Throughout my youth, I watched my father work side by side with a Black mayor of Gary and others across races to try to save that city. I appreciate him, and miss him this Father’s Day more than any other in many years, thanks to the quiet example he set in my life.

I have enjoyed friends and colleagues of all races personally and professionally throughout my adult life.

And yet even with that background personally, this body of work hit me between the eyes - a gut punch as to the challenge we ALL face in eradicating racism in this country, starting with me. Racism is deeply embedded in our culture, no matter how we were raised, where we live, or how we run your lives.

While prejudice and discrimination are largely mindsets, racism is structural in our society. We all own this issue.

Look up Aversive Racism and you will just begin to gain a more enlightened understanding of racism.

I do believe we were making some progress over the last several years. And then, the last few years tragically set us back decades.

I don’t know how we move forward. I do know that progress starts with each of us, including me - personally.

Ownership in any desired outcome begins with knowledge. This book presents an intelligent, data driven, and bulletproof case as to the scale of the challenge we face.

I encourage you to read or listen to this book - all of it.

And then importantly, own your personal role in actively eradicating this cruel, structural issue in our society.

Thank you for listening.