"What If I'm More Than a Street Sweeper?"

I had a lot of the feels with this years' honoring and celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I found myself wanting to know and understand more about how my white-skinned voice is heard and listened to differently - and with more respect. Because of some wise and beautifully colorful allies in my life - I wanted to go deeper into the emotional truth.

Before moving to Kansas City I lived in Hawaii. About every weekend I'd go skin diving, which is swimming under water without a diving suit, typically in deep water using only a snorkel, or aqualung, and flippers. So - I thought I'd do some surface skin diving here in Kansas City. I took three large breaths, and dove deep into the heavy truth of marginalized and oppressed workers of color. The injustices people of color are faced with every day while trying to obtain the American Dream. Injustices I will never understand because I have the born privilege of white skin.

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." -MLK

When I was a Freewill Baptist Minister I believed it was very important to not only quote scripture, but to understand the tone, history, audience - the context. I believed without these other elements the message would fall short of the intended purpose.

Religious associations and church doctrines have been formed around the fundamental idea that the apostle Paul gave specific instruction to only the women of the church at Corinth to be silent. When theologians and divinity scholars commit to understanding context - they soon discover Paul was only trying to lay out some basic principles and guidelines to the unruly and chaotic congregation. Plus, the synagogue had some acoustical challenges as people crowded into the small space. Turns out - everyone was loud and needed to have some structure as to how they should worship under a new religion.

You can almost hear the sounds of human iniquity ringing throughout the synagogue. "Ruth, really?! Can you and Peter please pray and worship a little more quietly? I can't even hear myself confess my sins!" Sound familiar? Like - perhaps a Human Resources director mitigating the challenges of a ridiculous dress code policy like hair color and tattoos, between two leaders?

When I read this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - I find myself struggling to just see it and read it. I want to remove my privilege, go beyond my ego, and reach into the purpose. Surely, Dr. King didn't only want oppressed people of color to be street sweepers. Surely, he didn't lay out a vision for the oppressed to believe they could only go so far in the American Dream because of their current circumstances. "Well, you're a street sweeper, and you should be grateful for even having a job. So do it well."

Now - while my brain and thoughts are scrambling to find meaning - please know I don't believe an employed street sweeper is any less of value than a nurse or c-suite executive. I am merely trying to dissect the words in order to find purpose and meaning. And - I am trying to do this by understanding the perspective from an employee, candidate, applicant of color.

"What if I'm more than a street sweeper?"

This was asked of me from an associate during my years working in light industrial staffing. This MLK quote was stenciled on our office wall - being the first thing associates and visitors saw as they passed through the doors in hopes of finding a decent paying job. The intention was to inspire our associates to always work hard and do a good job - no matter your circumstances.

"Do a good job at being a street sweeper and perhaps you'll get a better paying job, or opportunity."

Looking back - I can understand where the expression of this statement had not only a privileged tone, but an incorporated tinge of hopelessness. Who the hell was I? Judge and jury to the associates passing through our office? If they only work hard they can achieve the American Dream? Here I was, a white leader in my organization expressing to the eighty percent of our workforce, who were black, that if they only do a good job - they'll get ahead, eventually. But - there was a caveat. A more honest and inimical reality.

When this associate asked, "What if I'm more than a street sweeper?" I respectfully responded, "What would you like to do?" Or, "What are you passionate about?" The young man was put off at first, and didn't know how to answer. I didn't want him to feel shame about sharing his dream job, and so I empathetically asked him again. "I'd really like to know. What are you passionate about? What is your dream job?"

"I'd like to be a cardiothoracic surgeon."

"That's so cool!" I responded. However - he didn't seem as excited to reveal. "That's amazing! Why would you not be excited to tell me that?" I asked.

With a defeated look that seemed, to me, to be the result of a reality so far removed from my privileged one - he answered. "Those opportunities don't come to someone like me."

I was a gay man who had my own struggles with marginalization and discrimination. But in that moment - sitting on the opposite side of a desk where this young black man had found himself so many times - asking a white person for a job because a system kept him from his dream of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon - I realized the quote doesn't inspire. It's simply a harsh reminder of the constant struggle. He didn't belong in the American Dream. He was merely surviving it.

"What Is Your Life's Blueprint?" -MLK

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967 - just six months prior to his assassination. While some may refer to one of his many famous orations as the "Street Sweeper Speech" - the actual title and purpose was to help answer a question: "What Is Your Life's Blueprint?" (video)

These were underrepresented teens in a school that has since closed (Barratt Norris S. Middle School), and from a community where hope was rarely felt - or dreams seldomly achieved. But on this day - Dr. King shed light into a dark space, revealing what it will take, and what one must do in order to build "the structures of your lives (MLK, 1967)." He presented three bold principles to the student body.

• PRINCIPLE ONE: Principle of "Somebodiness"

"A deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth and your own somebodiness. Don't allow anyone to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance." -MLK

My associate wasn't ashamed of what he wanted to achieve in life, which was to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. Quite the contrary. He was ashamed and embarrassed to be vulnerable with me because there was a denominator that separated him and I. The history of our skin conditioned us to unconsciously believe and feel that I was the better and more deserving out of the two.

Most minorities initiate the services of temporary staffing as they are faced with an employers' iron-fisted talent acquisition policies designed to exclude rather than include. At our intersectionality - I would implicitly see the stenciling on the front wall as a means to motivate and encourage associates to be "somebody". He only saw the words "street sweeper" not "cardiothoracic surgeon."

Too often, he experienced employers expressing in whatever written, verbal or technical means, he wasn't good enough for a long-term opportunity. He knew what he was capable and worthy of becoming. But it was someone like me - who made him feel otherwise. Was I the "anyone" creating the "nobodiness" Dr. King spoke of?

Was the intention of the wall to make someone feel like a complete failure? Of course not! But after I recently took the time to intentionally watch, listen and understand the full "What Is Your Life's Blueprint" speech - I realized something. I realize, now, that I was doing to him what others have done to me. I was merely tolerating him. The difference was the color of my skin allowed an opportunity to hide from the societal shaming of being gay.

He didn't share in the benefits of hiding. How could he? Dr. King also said, "It's all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps." This is where I started pinpointing the texture of equality vs. equity.

I wasn't seeing him for what he was - a human of worth and value. I wasn't taking the time to understand his truth. I realized that I couldn't be a decent ally, or advocate, if I didn't understand the history of his truth. The context of his life. His truth - in what must have seemed like a low point in his life - was the feeling of "nobodiness".

• PRINCIPLE TWO: Determination

"I urge you in spite of your economic plight, in spite of the situation that you are forced to live so often with intolerable conditions, stay in school." -MLK

What a simple solution for someone like me to suggest acquiring a new job, stick with it, and maybe some day - you'll be somebody. What a "bootstrap" thing to say, right? So many times we place a negative assumption on someone's inability to acquire a worthy profession. We make statements like, "Well - you know they put themselves there. They don't have to do drugs, turn to violence, or drop out of school, or job hop. If they only show up for work everyday - they can be better."

After watching Dr. King's speech many times - I recognized that I must have seemed like a simpleton spouting these statements in front of minority workers. As if like the second coming - I was floating into their lives prophetically revealing a path unaware to them. I wasn't seeing how someone is forced into a situation, or life, they wouldn't choose. This was a moment of clarity as I could mildly relate. I say "mildly" because my white skin provided more opportunities to survive after my gay exile from family and church.

Several years ago I served on a Human Resources Board as the Director of Workforce Readiness and Development. All the national chapters were provided with an opportunity by the National Headquarters to participate in JAG (Jobs for America's Graduates). Our chapter made a collective decision to engage by planning a mini-style professional conference for the students. The conference would comprise of a key-note speaker, master of ceremonies, break-out sessions, and a networking hour. The objective was meant to equip underrepresented High School Juniors and Seniors with the necessary tools for labor market success.

The conference was graciously hosted by a school similar to the one Dr. King spoke to in Philadelphia. We put out a call for our HR membership to volunteer as small group leaders for the students. One by one the majority white volunteers reluctantly passed through metal detectors with the objective to either thoughtfully help, or acquire volunteer credit for their professional certifications.

In spite of the students' daily lived realities in an area of the city that looked abandoned and forgotten - they dawned smiles and gratitude for the giving of our time and help. We engaged with them by providing: mock interviews; resume building; professional branding and networking; team building. As an encore - we planned a "Dress for Success" fashion show.

How small and narrow-minded I think in terms of resilience and determination after experiencing a day like that. A young black teen girl was shot and killed only a few short months prior to our mini-conference. How shallow are my thoughts to assume that if a person would merely "pull themselves up from their bootstraps" - they can be somebody and achieve the American Dream.

A week after the day of volunteering I received the survey results from our members. A disappointing and overwhelming majority suggested the same due to "safety" concerns. "If we do this again, perhaps we should look at other schools to host. The metal detectors were a little off-putting."

I can't fit in my head - anywhere - that would suggest I have the immeasurable grit to get up in the morning, fearing the possibility of being shot and killed, in order to acquire the basic right of education. Holding on to a daily hope that I might one day acquire my dream job - my purpose. In the military we call that valor.

See - there was a fundamental difference between the privileged white volunteers and the valorous students. The volunteers can choose going to another school. What a privilege.

• PRINCIPLE THREE: Commitment to Beauty, Love & Justice

"In your life's blueprint must be a commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice. Don't allow anybody to pull you so low as to make you hate them." - MLK

Be better! Dr. King illustrated for the students through the examples of Marian Anderson, Jackie Robinson, George Washington Carver, to be better - in whatever circumstances you find yourself struggling or surviving. Be better because you're expected to fail.

Dr. King didn't say, "If you choose to be a street sweeper." He said, "If it falls your lot." Meaning - destined to happen. I didn't choose to be gay and suffer from the painful shame of bigotry and homophobia. There was a system designed to place my associate, and the JAG students, in a choice-less structure. They didn't choose to have a microscopic lens assigned to their life's work. The only choice they could make is to do better in such a way that would thrust them into a state of excellence beyond what others expected. Or, beyond what others have been able to achieve.

And when you do do it better - stay grounded in the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice. Do not be to others what they've been to you. Do better by showing them love and beauty. Be better by blazing a trail of justice for others who have lost hope. Be better by not allowing or accepting what others only deem you worthy of accomplishing.

I didn't want my associate to hate me for being like every other recruiter he had worked with by only offering him a warehouse job - making ten dollars an hour. I wanted my associate to leave our office with a sense of purpose. I provided him with an opportunity that allowed for more schedule flexibility, and connected him with a friend who worked in surgical services. My objective was to offer a chance for him to shadow and see what it's like to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Two weeks later, on a Friday, the associate visited our office to pick up his first paycheck. He politely asked the receptionist if he could go back to see me. As he approached my office I could see he was slightly limping. "Hello sir! How are you? Why are you limping?" I asked.

He replied by sharing a story about a situation he and his cousin recently found themselves. "I was shot in the leg," he answered. The weekend after our first meeting - him and his cousin were walking back from a friend's house when they were both shot. His cousin was still in the hospital - but expected to make it. I wasn't able to collect my thoughts as they were struggling to find reasoning.

He hadn't missed a day of work since beginning - even though he had every reason not to go. But - he knew that if he was going to be more than a street sweeper - he needed to be better in spite of the structure he was afforded.

"Well, life for none of us has been a crystal stair. But we must keep moving. We must keep going." - Langston Hughes

Dr. King ended his speech with a poem by Langston Hughes, entitled: Mother to Son.

Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, and splinters, and boards torn up, and places with no carpet on the floor - bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, and reachin' landin's and turnin' corners, and sometimes goin' in the dark where there ain't been no light. So boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps 'cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now -- for I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stairs.

I implore my fellow white friends and colleagues before they plan to post their solidarity statements on social media during this years' Black History Month - Do Better. Do better by asking, "How can I help you accomplish your dream? Because - I see you! And - I know that you are somebody - and I understand it's not easy!"