Let’s talk about The one thing everyone can do to turn the needle towards positive change for blacks even if you have no power.

Inequality is a wicked problem that is not easy to eliminate. It stuns everyone. It’s gonna take the effort of everyone to fix.

Ellen Degenerous was crying because she didn’t know what to say.

On the world’s stage, Justin Trudeau didn’t know what to say so he paused for 21 seconds.

For the good hearted white person who is stunned by this moment, you’re not gonna know what to say or do right now
And you’ll never understand our pain- empathy has its limits.it works best for people who look like each other.

But know this, inequality, racism can not be left on the shoulders of our leaders alone to fix. You can be an ally in this fight.

This act that I’m gonna tell you to do as a good hearted white person is so small that you might think it’s insignificant. But it’s powerful.

The one thing that you can do daily to shift the needle towards justice for blacks is to take perspectives of blacks.
So what is perspective taking?
Perspective taking is you embracing a black persons story, our view, our reflection on our struggle.

What blacks often hear and feel about the response to their complaints is that atleast you’re no longer living in the so called shit hole country, you know the one where world vision shows of those babies bitten by flies?

Now that you’re in the land of milk and honey, shut up. This takes the wind out of your sail.

Perspective taking does the opposite of that.
When you take our perspective, you accept our feelings about our struggle , you validate our struggle.
When you validate us, everyday, you make us feel loved and belonged every day.

As Brene brown wrote,
Love and belonging are irreducible needs of men women and children.
In the absence of love and belonging, there is always suffering.

It’s this suffering that caused black people to say fuck Corona, justice can’t wait.
And that’s why I cried that day.

But you are an ally. We need you to be.

Perspective taking is simple but effective in healing hurting people, in bridging divides.

This is exactly the skill Sergio De Mello UN high Commissioner used to cause neighbouring countries who were fighting wars to cease fire and live in peace.

Perspective taking is not new in the fight for equality for blacks.
In the 60’s a white journalist by the name of John Howard Griffin who grew up in the South and witnessed the ill treatment of blacks wanted to find out first hand what it felt like to be black, not to hear about it, he felt that blacks would never tell you the full story of their struggle.

He felt like to get the full story he needed to be black.

After he had donned on the appearance of a black man, he traveled throughout the south, lived as a black man for 6 weeks.

Amongst the many descriptions of his 6 weeks’ experience being black,
he talked about the hate stare that could Shrivel men’s soul, that deprive humans of rights they unhesitatingly accord their livestock. Based on his experience, he said “the Negro is not even treated as a second class citizen, they are treated as a tenth class one”

This is perspective-taking at its fullest. You won’t need to go that far.

By bringing that insight to his side of the fence, the dominant group that looks like him and trusted him, not only did John do perspective-taking but he also did perspective giving, influencing others to accept the perspective coming from one of their own.

What if you accepted the black person’s story as our truth, that we are actually hurting and that we deserve better?

What if you actually aligned with Martin Luther king junior when he said judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by his character?
And you take this same perspective to your community and when your friends criticize blacks for complaining, you correct them.

What if you reminded them of John Griffin’s personal experience of being black for 6 weeks.
What kind of world would you create one tiny kind act at a time?

Tell you what, you would make heaven on earth for blacks in America.

it’s on everyone of us, to make everyone around us feel like they belong.

We are stronger together.

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