We Have to Change This Now

I am not coming to you this week as a Strategic Leadership Advisor, or Executive Coach. I am coming to you as a white gay male and father of the most amazing person on this planet, I think, my 18-year-old African American son.

There is not a day that goes by that every time he walks out of our front door, there is fear and trepidation as to what type of world he is walking into. I fear is he going to run into someone that thinks he is a threat, or worse be pulled over by the police and have to make sure he says the right thing so he is not perceived as a threat. This is not right America. He should not have to worry about these things. My heart is hurting for these injustices and all the ones we don’t hear about. This has to stop America. It has to stop. We white Americans have to wake up and realize our role in this continued injustice of a race of people. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

An African American friend shared this essay with me that struck a chord and I found very moving which I want to share with you. White America, what are we willing to do to make a difference this time, so this does not continue to happen again and again and again? Join me in changing this now.

Help me change my son’s experience. As a father, I am asking that you share this with your network and ask your network to share with their network to help wake up America to change this so that my son doesn’t have to walk out his front door and see people cross the street when he is coming, or move away from him in an elevator, or view him as a threat before they have even met him. Help change my son’s world for the better. Thank you.

Dear White People, Your Black Colleagues Are Not Okay

By Danielle Cadet