Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man

by Emmanuel Acho

The book you’re reading is what I want to do with that perspective.

racism.

I believe an important part of the cure, maybe the most crucial part of it, is to talk to each other.

The goal here is to build relationships—and, ultimately, to help us recognize each other’s humanity.

IN THESE PAGES

PAUSE—DID THAT MAKE

getting uncomfortable is the whole idea. Everything great is birthed through discomfort.

IN HIS POEM

Langston Hughes

I believe the majority of white Americans are now ready to help America become the land it dreamed for itself.

Ibram X. Kendi).

THE NAME GAME Black or African American?

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

black.

Let’s Rewind

We must never forget that the lion’s share of people of African descent living in this country had ancestors that were seized from their homeland and stripped of the core parts of their identities: kinship ties, links to a tribe, language, and so on.

colored,

Negro

black

African-American.

(Right, Obama was not the first to run.)

African-American, they argued, instead celebrated a cultural heritage.

(pretty sure Negro and colored won’t be making any comebacks, but one never knows).

Let’s Get Uncomfortable

“Primer for Blacks”:

BLACK COVERS THE

Talk It, Walk It

Tom Smith’s essay “Changing Racial Labels: From ‘Colored’ to ‘Negro’ to ‘Black’ to ‘African American.’”

And check out Kee Malesky’s “The Journey from ‘Colored’ to ‘Minorities’ to ‘People of Color,’” published on npr.org.

The question of whether to use black or African American is ultimately a preference, one that helps a person present their identity to the world. Each person you meet might not have a preference, but maybe they do. Trust me, language matters.

Prejudice is an emotional commitment to ignorance. —NATHAN RUTSTEIN

“gorillas.”

implicit bias.

Let’s Rewind

Yup: applicants with white-sounding names were more likely to be called back for an interview. And not just by a little bit. They were almost twice as likely to be called back.

“equal opportunity employer,”

Anyone can act on biases—prejudice and stereotypes—without being aware that’s what they are doing.

half

Think about what joblessness does to a person’s esteem, to their mental health. Think about the fact that with no job, there’s likely no health insurance or no good health insurance. And what about feeling like your name is the cause of your life’s troubles?

“driving while black”?

Eliminating Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Mortality,

The death rate for black infants is twice that of infants born to non-Hispanic white mothers.

weathering

Again, unconscious prejudices can manifest as racist actions, that’s the whole problem. But I think it’s important to start here, with the fact that you don’t even have to know you’re racist for the damage to be done.

Let’s Get Uncomfortable

DENIAL:

Don’t Even kNow I Am Lying.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, has biases. It’s the job of empathetic and considerate people not to let them dictate actions that harm others.

Talk It, Walk It

Therein lies a lesson for those of us who are not billion-dollar tech giants: it can be easier to avoid bad PR than to fix the root problem.