For more than three weeks now, I have posted on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and various blog and career sites (owned by me) advertising the Career Challenge. (I also texted one family member who could greatly benefit but who would not see the challenge posted online.) Intentionally, I did not pay for any advertising.
The instructions were simple, and the terms were clear. (Less clear was the test behind the challenge.) With millions unemployed, a good number of people and entities posting black squares, and #BlackLivesMatter, huge crowds marched in defiance to protest injustice against Black human beings, while white-lead congregations even in cities as vast and diverse as New York mostly remained silent about well known injustices against Black human beings. How many would still be willing to support Black Lives by repealing and repudiating the discrimination and racism which has long held Black Americans unemployed and underemployed? How many allies of this cause would remain if we asked that they do more than just react after a Black human had been killed? What if Black Americans said: 'charity? no thanks. Please join me in a fight for equity?' In other words, would allies still enthusiastically embrace and support a movement that demanded that Black humans be treated equitably?
Equity for Black Americans would mean that Black Americans would no longer need or rely on 'saviors,' charity, donations, hand-me-downs, and that gratuitous and seemingly miraculous, once in a decade, justice which made it seem like Christmas or Easter when the American legal system ruled just right in a case.
What if we were equal? You see, I can't help but realize how comfortable white and non-black Americans are broadcasting their support of Black humans - in Africa. So long as the Black humans are not like us: not-American like us, not legally entitled to the same American protections like us, and (most significantly) not owed redress by the United States of America for the enslavement of Black life which continues to adversely impact African American descendants in all aspects of life today.
People feel good posting proof of donations to organizations who give food or free legal services to African Americans, but few really stopped to address why such entities were necessary. What if Black Americans were treated equitably? What if American citizens with Black skin had access to the same leadership positions, salaries, compensation, justice and rights as white Americans? What if white and Black Americans were treated equitably? What if we abolished the system that created a need for black squares and #BlackLivesMatter hashtags? What if we came together to do something really good with lasting and sustainable impact? What if the hashtags turned into actions? What if we figured out how to redress the ongoing impact of Slavery for those impacted and then applied the method to public and private practice?
You see - it's really simple: if everyone really believed and supported the ideas which they have been posting in support of and publishing online for all the world to see - then this challenge would be a success. So, with less than 240 individuals or followers on my most popular social media account I launched the Career Challenge. (We still believe a single individual can change the world, right? Would we follow, support, commit or share if that individual is a Black woman? You decide. You can see for yourself: I've laid it bare for the world to see.)
August 1, 2020, 9am Eastern, this website will go live.
August 1, 2020, 9am Eastern, the world will know if my social networks are supportive of me - or not. And August 1, 2020, 9am Eastern, I will know if my social media networks really support EQUITY for Black lives and women's lives or if they just want to post hashtags and appear supportive while Black men and women in America are killed and raped with impunity as American justice continues to look away from the carnage.
Image Credit: THERESA GIOVANNA