Steven S. Rogers - A Letter to My White Friends and Colleagues : What You Can Do Right Now to Help the Black Community

1. Chapter 3
2. Chapter 4
3. Chapter 5

1. Chapter 3

STEVEN S. ROGERS

HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, RETIRED

Copyright 2021 by Steven S. Rogers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Breonna Taylor Was Shot and Killed by Police in Her Own Home

(March 13, 2020)

Ahmaud Arbery: Father and Son Charged with Murder of US Black Jogger

(February 23, 2020)

George Floyd's Death Was Murder

(June 24, 2020)

L ISTED ABOVE ARE what I consider to be the three most descriptive newspaper headlines in 2020. Each captures the incidents that were the catalysts for the country's racial, social unrest, and protests, known collectively as the Black Lives Matter movement.

George Floyd was murdered by a cop who put his knee on George's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds on May 25, 2020. Six days later, amidst the continuous protests and social unrest in the country, my youngest daughter, Ariel, 32 years old, sent me the following text:

Dad,

I think you should do a podcast as if you were the President. Something to provide a voice and some guidance to Black people right now regarding how to push forward. What to do with the emotion we all feel stuck with, to acknowledge that White people will likely disappointingly, try to keep going about the day today in a business as usual manner. We need you to keep encouraging us to respect COVID and its potential fatality. Equally important is that we need you to encourage Black folks to take care of ourselves which means:

1. It's okay to cry. This is sad and heartbreaking. We have to honor our emotions.
2. Be prepared to persevere and keep fighting the good fight. Actively protest if you feel like taking to the streets will help positively give the pain into something.

Dad, whatever your message would be, I know that it can be incredibly impactful!

It is this heartfelt plea from Ariel, who is a former executive salesperson with a fintech company, with a degree in engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business, that led to my production of the podcast Say It Loud! I'm Black and I'm Proudand I'm Angry and Hurting The targeted audience was Black Americans. Here is the podcast in its entirety:

Say it loud, I'm Black, and I'm proud. and I'm angry and I'm hurting!

For those of you too young to know, the first 8 words that I just mentioned were from a song written by James Brown, 52 years ago, and the last sentence that I just mentioned was from my daughter, Ariel Rogers, two days ago. All of my previous podcasts have focused on Black businesses. This podcast will focus on the business of helping Black America after a month of Black murders by White men.

I am not going to use this platform to tell Black people to vote, that I have heard advised by Black politicians and entertainers. I do not believe there is any value at this time to tell Black people to suppress their anger and hurt until the voting booths open in November. My advice is that Black people should be authentic and own these feelings. Continue to march and protest. You are going through the multi-step grieving process. Do not let anyone hoodwink you into trying to skip important steps in the process of grief when a Black man has been lynched by a White cop!

My friends, I still hurt and grieve from hearing, as an 11-year-old, my mother crying in her bedroom: 52 years ago, when the news reported that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been murdered.

I still hurt and grieve from attending a church service at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, 100 days after a White man murdered nine Black parishioners doing a prayer service meeting in 2015. And I still hurt and grieve from the photo I saw of a Black family, a father, a mother, and two children, lynched, hanging from a tree by their necks, when I visited the lynching museum last year in Montgomery, Alabama.

Therefore, I come to you with shared anger and grief experiences. Own it. Do not let someone tell you that you're wrong for owning and displaying these natural feelings! In addition to that advice, let me give you some more constructive advice:

1. Please let yourself cry. These are horribly sad times for Black people. Let your true emotions and feelings out. Remember, crying is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of humanity, a sign of civility, and a sign of strength.
2. Keep fighting the good, peaceful fight. No positive change has ever happened for Black people without major disruption