It is literally the last week in October. I don’t know about you, but I cannot wait until this election is over! I’m so tired of hearing from politicians lying about how they are going to help Americans. I’m tired of seeing the get out the vote campaign commercials. I’m just tired of all the lies. Mainly, because neither candidate represents my values. I’m literally stuck voting for the less of the evils. 

It’s like the picture that Jim Carrey painted not too long ago (if you want to see the photo, check out my website). There’s a guy who is blindfolded holding two cans. One is red and labeled blatant corruption (which clearly represents Trump) and the other is blue labeled corruption lite (which represents Joe Biden). The description says, “…Red is dead. Choose Blue instead.” 

Just in case you’re wondering, spoiler alert, I’m not voting for the idiot that clearly wants to be in charge of the KKK because he’s hell bent on starting a race war. Trump can’t even say the word Black without it sounding like a swear word. The sad thing is, I bet you he’s concentrating really hard to say Black instead of saying the word that he really wants to say. I’ll let you use your imagination on what that word would be…

I know I sound incredibly jaded and pessimistic but when it comes to the American justice system I am. As far as I am concerned, American justice is an oxymoron. In today’s episode, I guarantee some of you may feel uncomfortable, but I truly hope you hang in there because then you’ll learn something new. 

Be sure to check out the website for more details about the stories that I’m going to share with you. My goal for today’s episode to be the CliffsNotes version about aspects of American history that are either glossed over, reimagines or simply aren’t taught in school. Instead of learning from past mistakes, as a nation, we’re content with repeating them.

One of the reasons I decided to discuss this topic is because I was watching a PBS documentary called Ball of Confusion: The 1968 Election which prompted me to think about some of the conversations I have had over the past couple of months. Chaos has been happening within our nation the past couple of years, but especially this year. I recognized so many parallels to situations taking place during 1968 that have led to the chaos that we are currently experiencing today especially in regards to racism.

While I was watching this documentary, I thought back to all the protests that took place right after George Floyd’s death. I remember a white person said to me that they believed that this was going to be a defining moment in our history and that things were going to change. My response was, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” 

Guess who was right? Sadly me. You have no idea how badly I wanted to be wrong too. Here we are several months later and nothing has changed. In fact, the Karens, Beckys, Kevins, and Tanners of the world are more empowered to be bolder with their racism. 

You have idiots like Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who actually had the audacity to insinuate that Black people don’t want to be successful. This comment is especially ironic, seeing that he was born rich, never worked a day in his life, and is literally working in a position that his idiot father-in-law, Trump gave to him. Needless to say, Kushner has never had to overcome barriers of systemic racism and ignorant comments like this indicate he won’t be a part of the solution to fight against it. By the way, Blacks and Latinos are incredibly hard workers. Many work more than one job even if they have a  9 to 5 job. The majority of us don’t have generational wealth to rely on so we learn at an early age you better diversify your income.  

Another reason why we haven’t made progress is because there have been even more police shootings of unarmed Black people. I guarantee there will be even more if this idiot continues to remain in office. Trump already told the Proud Boys, a well known hate group, to “Stand back and stand by.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to decipher what he meant by that statement. If that’s not a dog whistle, I don’t know what it… In fact, there has been an increase in white supremacists groups conducting paramilitary exercises and showing up at protests causing trouble that often gets blamed on Black Lives Matter or Antifa.

One of the reasons I already knew nothing was going to change is because many white people in America truly believe that racism no longer exists. Therefore, they don’t have any incentive to work towards implementing long-lasting changes that could actually serve as an attempt to acknowledge and help repair the damage that they continue to benefit from due to the over 400-year headstart slavery and systemic racism has provided them. 

What’s even crazier is that there is even a push in the education system to revamp the definition of slavery. I’m totally not joking. In some text books instead of using the word slaves they say laborers or people from Africa who came to help people do chores. The last time I checked taking people against their will, forcing them to work without pay is called slavery. Anyway, let me get back to the subject…

Let’s take the police for example. When you’re a child you’re often taught that the police are there to help protect and serve. However, when you get older it becomes incredibly apparent who the police work for in America. Spoiler alert, they do not work for  anyone of color, especially Black people. Here’s the thing, this is by design. Many schools fail to teach that the police organizations you see today stem from slavery. Yep, that’s right boys and girls, slavery. The police were literally created to track down runaway slaves, prevent slave uprisings, and enforce rules to segregate freed slaves. 

Now, I know that some people may be like, “Wait a minute, even if that’s true, that doesn’t apply today.” Sadly, this faulty thinking is why we are in this mess. Regardless of whether white people want to admit it, the majority of the police force is composed of people who share this same slave mentality. It’s deeply ingrained in today’s modern police departments.  

The police are often assigned to “patrol” areas where they are whiter than the community and don’t even live in the areas that they are supposed to protect and serve. The police are more apt to be heavily armed and use force when they are assigned to patrol communities of color. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a shocker that there is a higher amount of police brutality incidents dealing with Black people. 

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What’s even more frustrating is that the laws in place are not fairly applied to white and Black people. White people are given way more chances to avoid jail time and sometimes even choose where they want to serve their jail sentence which is not an opportunity afforded to Black people. I’ve never done drugs and believe that drug use is wrong. However, the whole war on drugs campaign during the 80’s was really another attempt to further disenfranchise Black people via mass incarceration. 

The current opioid crisis is affecting more white people than Black people. The approach being used to help white people  is way more compassionate and lenient than Black people who were caught with cocaine back in the 1980’s. Yet, sadly, the effects of the War on Drugs campaign can still be seen today. 

For example, Black people have or continued to be put in jail for having or selling weed. Black people started to bring attention to the fact that white people were not being punished with the heavy jail time sentences and fines that Black people were receiving. This is why all of a sudden you magically saw the push to legalize marijuana.  The white people who wished to use marijuana didn’t want to bring attention to the unfair application of the laws nor suffer the consequences for violating the rules. 

The crazy thing is that even though marijuana is legal many Black people are still sitting in jail for something that is not illegal anymore. Even when they get out of jail, they can’t get jobs because they have a record, based on what state they are in they can’t vote, and to add insult to injury they can’t own a marijuana shop. Which by the way, is yet another industry primarily owned by white people, despite the fact this industry profited from and then incarcerated numerous Black people.  

White people have also benefited from the mass incarceration of Black people because it’s literally the new modern day slave trade. When incarceration rates soared to record highs in the 1980s due to the War on Drugs campaign, corporations viewed this as a business opportunity to privatize the prison system.

Take a guess at who runs the facilities and who is stuck working for free? You guessed it. Black people are working for free yet again to help companies get rich but this time they can do it legally. Can you imagine being pulled over or thrown in jail indefinitely for a minor offense that you may or may not have committed simply because you can’t afford bail, then sentenced to jail to work for free for a large corporation? It’s in the police, prison system and many corporations best interest to keep the prison pipeline filled prisoners so they can act as modern day slaves. 

This is why when you see people protesting that you may hear chants to defund the police. It’s abundantly clear that the police can’t be expected to “police” themselves. In many cities, let’s take my hometown Chicago, the majority of the budget is allocated towards the police department. Chicago raises taxes what seems to feel like every five minutes, but can’t allocate  funds to West and South side schools so the Black and Latino students can receive the same education opportunities that students on the Northside of Chicago receive; yet, they somehow found $95 million to allocate for  “police and fire academy training?” 

Are you kidding me? Why in the world would you spend that amount of money when you could have used it for resources like after school programs, workforce initiatives, to help the community? I’m not condoning criminal activity but much of the crime you see in these neighborhoods stem from a lack of hope and resources. Sadly, it literally took a pandemic for white people to see what Black people have been talking about for years. 

The police should NOT be able to get away with their behavior. Yet,regardless of how blatant the crime may be,  it’s almost impossible for a police officer to be found guilty. Police officers have numerous laws like qualified immunity that prevent them from being punished for their crimes. 

People love to use the analogy that there are only a couple of bad apples within the police, but this simply isn’t true. Plus, could you imagine using this analogy when you decide whether to have confidence in your pilot? Like Chris Rock said, “”Some jobs, everybody gotta be good. Like … pilots. Ya know, American Airlines can’t be like, ‘Most of our pilots like to land. We just got a few bad apples that like to crash into mountains. Please bear with us.” Some professions simply cannot afford to have ANY bad apples. We all know that if the roles were reversed there would not be any bad apples and if they were there they would be immediately punished. 

In an attempt to right so many wrongs, Black people have been conditioned into thinking that voting is the only way change will occur. All throughout history a variety of barriers have been enacted to keep Black people from voting.  After the civil war, years of Jim Crow laws led to violence, bloodshed, and the rise of the KKK.

In order to keep Black people from voting rules like implementing a fee to vote aka poll tax, literacy tests that even many lawyers wouldn’t be able to pass, and other laws that would prevent you from voting like not having a job, and the list goes on. Now I understand why people have been conditioned into thinking that voting is important because this is how laws get changed. This is true if you have people willing to do the right thing. I’m sad to say we don’t have this and that is by design as well.

If you take a closer look, you will notice that when it comes to voting for the President of the United States, the popular vote doesn’t matter. It’s the electoral college that elects the president, not the people. Do you know who represents your state for the electoral college? I certainly don’t and I bet you don’t either. This part of the voting process is hardly ever discussed. 

SIDE NOTE: My apologies for not saying electoral college incorrectly. I always mess up saying this word. I don’t know why-LOL

In fact, I was watching a documentary called Electoral Dysfunction and this reporter exposed the electoral college system. The electoral college does NOT represent the current demographics of the U.S. This probably will not be a shocker, but the electoral college demographics are white men. Also, what I found incredibly surprising in this documentary was that there was a young white man who literally “inherited” the electoral role from his dad. 

There’s no rhyme or reason why these people were chosen. I can guarantee you that if more Blacks and Latinos inquired about joining the electoral college that the rules would change. By the way, I’m so sick of people bringing up the fact that Barack Obama was able to become president. Appearances don’t bring about lasting change. Plus, if the electoral college didn’t go along with the popular vote that would have been way too obvious which would have brought too much attention to their ability to continue to run in secrecy. 

However, you gotta love the irony because Trump being in office is starting to bring more attention back to the electoral college. After all this is how he was able to steal the presidency back in 2016.

By the way, once Barack was in office, the majority of the white people in the south went to work immediately and started demolishing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law was in place to protect everyone’s right to vote. In particular, southern states that have a history of voter suppression literally had to go to the Federal government in order to receive clearance for any changes that they wished to make that dealt with voting  (poll locations). This major piece of legislation was removed back in 2013.

Ever since 2013, starting with the Southern states and slowly working up to the Northern states (especially in Wisconsin and Indiana), the number of polling places in predominantly African American and Latino communities have closed, now there’s a push for people to verify who they are with additional specific documentation that many of those communities may not possess, and there’s even some people who have been vocal about not seeing anything wrong with taking a literacy test. 

In many areas around the country, but especially the south, it’s not uncommon for Blacks and Latinos to have to drive to towns far outside of their communities, only to stand in line for hours clinging to the hope that their vote will count and matter. I’m in awe of these people, especially the folks in the South. I definitely wouldn’t even bother voting if the poll was located in one of those sundown towns. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the term sundown towns, these are towns located all throughout the United States that have the unspoken rule that Black people are allowed to be in these towns during the day to work or shop but you better be gone by nightfall. If you’re Black caught in one of these towns at night time, you can risk being arrested, beaten and yes there have been incidents of lynchings as well, but these towns go above and beyond to silence those stories from getting out into the media. However,  those that live in the Black communities surrounding these areas make sure to warn each other.

Thank goodness for social media because I definitely don’t want to make the mistake in going to one of these towns. I belong to a couple Black travel groups which is fantastic because it’s one of the major methods we use in exchanging information. It’s a helpful shortcut that many of us use to share stories to gain information to help us  determine the amount of racism we can expect to receive in whatever city or country we are thinking about visiting. 

The mere fact that these sundown towns still exist is one of the main reasons why I will never go on a road trip in this country, especially in today’s racial climate. I already know that I’m on my own if something goes down so I prefer to stay in states and areas where the racism is at least less blatant. I venture to say that the majority of the folks listening to this podcast already know which states I’m referring to and it should probably go without saying that you won’t see me visiting those states anytime soon.

Do you see what’s happening here? The United States can’t move forward if people don’t learn from the past. This is what happens when there aren’t any consequences in place or haphazardly enforced. Therefore, history continues to repeat itself. 

This is one of the main reasons why I love the phrase, “I work down here, but live upstairs.” If I focused on receiving justice from man, I would be one miserable person. However, I know better. We all have free will but I know that Christ is in charge. 

So regardless of what new hurdles this country attempts to put in place next, I’ll sail right over them. It will be easy to do. All I have to do is look at history’s rearview mirror to anticipate what’s coming up next.

Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode. If you enjoy listening to Hustle in Faith and would like to support the show, please consider sharing it with your friends, leaving a review, donating or making a purchase at  StarenguCrew, our new fitness apparel shop.

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook and Pinterest. Remember, if you’re everything to everyone then you risk being no one. You never know who will inspire you in the next episode!

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Check out these articles

• This is America 
• Hustle in Faith Episodes on Racism
• How the U.S. Got Its Police Force
• The invention of the police
• Texas Mother Who Sparked Change to Textbook ‘Downplaying Slavery’ Believes ‘More Needs to Be Done’
• Company Apologizes for Texas Textbook Calling Slaves ‘Workers’: ‘We Made a Mistake’
• School apologizes after teaching students black history with ‘Escaping Slavery’ game
• Cheap labor means prisons still turn a profit, even during a pandemic
• California kept prison factories open. Inmates worked for pennies an hour as COVID-19 spread
• The War on Drugs
• Why cannabis reform could be a major tool in rectifying the racial wealth gap
• The Most Damaging Myths About Slavery, Debunked
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
• ‘Black-ish’ tackles voter suppression: ‘Everything I’ve been taught about the promise of this country is a lie’ 
• With days left, Black voters face orchestrated efforts to discourage voting
• Florida Deputies to Add Security After Armed Men Appear at Polling Site
• Too many Florida police departments reluctant to protect Black voters at the polls | Opinion
• I’ve Never Been Able To Escape Segregation And Now White People Can’t Either
• AP Road Trip: Racial Tensions in America’s ‘Sundown Towns’
•  The ‘Sundown Towns’ From ‘Lovecraft Country’ Were a Real Thing
• Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism 

Welcome to Hustle in Faith. This podcast is dedicated to helping you find your trail to a happier healthier you by discussing topics regarding Christianity, health & wellness, beauty & so much more! I’m your host Tosha Johnson.

This is episode 111: Are you the problem or the solution?

Before we dig into today’s topic, I just want to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to listen and share my podcast with other people. Even if you didn’t agree with me, I still appreciate you taking time out to listen to a different point of view. I really appreciate it. 

Now, for those of you who are familiar with my podcast, I know the last couple of episodes have been my Random Thoughts segments which is when I discuss random topics that are on my mind. With that said, today will be another Random Thoughts segment, but I promise you I am working on other topics. 

It’s just with everything that’s been going on lately, I felt compelled to share my thoughts. All right, enough rambling from me, let’s jump into today’s topic.

I saw this meme that said, “July please come in here like you got some sense.” Isn’t that the truth?! Like I feel like I need a break because 2020 has felt like an absolute rollercoaster ride. So for selfish reasons, my birthday is in July so I desperately just want it to be a chill month. 

I’m not a big social media person. This is ironic because my background is in marketing. The reason I feel this way is for two reasons. I’ll use it for work, but I’m not one of those people who spend hours online because I prefer to make memories offline. That’s always been my motto. 

However, the other reason why I’m not big on social media is that it reminds me of how many dumb people there are in the world. Whenever I see stupid comments it takes a lot for me to keep it moving. It’s especially disheartening when I see those comments coming from people I know. I’m all about keeping toxic people and thoughts outside of my world. It’s the only way I know how to stay sane.

Again, unless you have been living under a rock, I’m sure you know that there have been numerous protests regarding police brutality against Black people. 

I was on Facebook one day and I saw some White women talking about how they had a desire to attend “peaceful protests” so they were going to a protest in suburbs. The statement “peaceful protests” rubbed me the wrong way because it insinuates that once again Black people are the problem. 

Plus, this country wasn’t founded via peaceful protests which is something a lot of White people conveniently forget about, but what made me really sad is that these women are teachers. They should know better. However, in my gut, I truly believe these women were just going to the protest so they could feel better about themselves and capture their “good deed” on film and not because they really wanted to seek change for Black people.

So imagine my surprise when I  happened to come across an article called, “White Women Stop Treating Protests as Instagram Photo Shoots.” It was literally White women using the protests and protestors as background props. Some were holding signs, took pictures, and immediately left the protest.

I’m not going to lie. It made me angry  because it reminded me of the quote, “Everybody wants to be Black until it’s time to be Black.” Meaning, many White people love to capitalize off of our creativity, our features, music, etc. when it can be used to their advantage, but then disappear the moment someone Black is in an adverse situation or discusses racism, then they magically disappear. 

By the way, White women capitalizing on our features drives me insane. When I was younger, I was teased for how I looked. The very same features I was teased for my skin tone, my shape, my lips, my hair all given to me by God, are praised when White women attain them by having plastic surgery or baking in the sun or spray tanning their way to achieve our melanin. 

Heck, even today in the corporate world it’s an unwritten rule that the standard of beauty is to look as close to European as possible. 

Black women are constantly made to feel like they won’t be viewed as professional if they wear their natural hair which is oftentimes curly or even in a protective style like braids or twists. I’ve had White coworkers and managers go above and beyond to praise me when my hair is straight only to go silent or and/or say stupid comments like, “New hairdo,” with a look of dislike and/or confusion. I normally smile and say, “Yes, my hair is very versatile and it’s much easier for me to wear it curly.” 

Anyway, I’ve just chalked it up to they don’t have any home training. I’ve always been taught that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. However, many White people state what they have to say without fear of adverse consequences for sharing their opinions even when it hasn’t been requested. 

I don’t have this luxury. In fact, I always have to triple think about what I want to say when I’m at work because I truly don’t have the energy to get into a White tears situation. I’ve mentioned what the term White tears means in a previous episode,  ‘Episode 109, Why can’t we all get along?’ 

For those of you unfamiliar with the term White tears, it’s what Black people say when we refer to someone White who believes that they have been wronged when someone Black points out their behavior racist behavior and/or is upset that someone Black is experiencing more success than them. 

Those who cry White tears often do so in order to get other White people on their side in an attempt to make the Black person appear to be wrong when it was really the White person. Again, every Black person I know has experienced this at some point in time in their lives. 

I have so many examples of this in my career that I lost track. It really sucks because it’s like the ultimate Catch-22. When a Black woman speaks her mind she risks being seen as the angry Black woman stereotype, but when a White woman does it she’s passionate. However, if the Black woman remains silent, her self-esteem will take a hit. 

My mom taught me early on to say what I need to say and not to buy into this psychology nonsense. That Angry Black woman stereotype was created in an attempt to silence us. I must do my part to never allow that to happen, regardless of the consequences.

It’s interesting because now companies are finding themselves in the Catch-22 that Black people experience on a daily basis. If a company remains silent regarding the protests against racism they run the risk of offending their Black employees, Black customers, other customers of color, and those that choose to fight against racism. Yet, if that same company chooses to be vocal runs the risk of exposing the fact that their staff is lily White and they have racist customers.

Both options have consequences, but as my mom always said, “You need to do the right thing.” This isn’t rocket science; yet, many companies delayed in issuing a response because deep down, they were hoping the issue would go away.

After all, companies haven’t had to choose a side before so why should this be any different? I can see where this faulty logic might come into play, but they failed to realize one thing. Everyone has a breaking point. What you see are the effects of a community that has lost hope. 

Many Black neighborhoods are poorly funded so they look like war-torn countries, these areas are food deserts, meaning they don’t have access to supermarkets and grocery stores (imagine going grocery shopping at a convenience store because that’s what many do), education in these areas is a joke so the thought of going to college is just a dream because they can’t afford it. 

Even if they do go to college they will need to do so based on grants, search for lenders who will without a doubt give them the highest APR possible if they do decide to give them a loan, then this student must work twice as hard to make up for all the education they missed out on in high school. 

Then let’s say they graduate they aren’t able to get a job because they have an ethnic-sounding name and/or don’t have the connections to get a job. Now they have a mountain of student loan debt that they can’t pay for living in the same area that they so desperately were trying to escape from. You’re trying to achieve success all while trying to avoid any run-ins with the police because you know that one wrong move can result in death. Sounds exhausting right? 

What many of these companies fail to get is that your silence supports violence. The mere fact that these companies are struggling to find the right words is because deep down they’re still trying to figure out how they can somehow not offend anyone.

One example is the NFL. The NFL needs to be ashamed of themselves. It took the NFL 10 days after the protests and a video from prominent football players to make a statement. When I heard Roger Goodell’s so-called apology it made me sick. Back in 2016, Colin Kaepernick did a peaceful protest kneeling during the national anthem and hasn’t played in the NFL since. Yet, there was no mention of Kaepernick in that apology which is why it rang extremely hollow.

Same thing with Nascar. Bubba Wallace, the sports only Black driver on the circuit, and he literally had to tell Nascar that they needed to ban the Confederate flag at events. Again, are you kidding me? By the way, I will never attend an NFL or Nascar event because as a Black person I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing so. I’m not about to get into a situation where I’m sitting near someone drunk who also happens to be racist. I’ve read and heard about one to many instances of this happening and refuse to be a part of that statistic. 

I already research the level of racism I can expect to receive or encounter when I choose a vacation spot, so I’m not about to add this nonsense to the list as well.

Again, companies must realize that if you’re going to demonstrate support in the fight against racism then you better put some action behind those words.  Black people are not amused by your long flowery statements. Actions speak louder than words. 

If you really support Black lives, how many of them are on your staff? What actions are you taking to impact the community? By the way, it’s baffling to me how many companies are hiring diversity consultants. It’s even more disturbing to me that the companies that are being hired are owned by White women. Once again, it feels like White people are profiting from our pain and experiences. The money spent on a diversity consultant could have gone towards resources and time on projects that would bring about sustainable change.

This is why I’m not about to waste my time in some stupid listening circle talking about racism to a White woman who would never be able to relate to my experiences when I could be taking that precious time to connect with those within the community and allocating resources to help end the inequality. If companies really want to resolve racism then ask yourself, “How can I make the greatest impact within the Black community?” 

It all starts with educating yourself. Then you need to pay if forward and share that information with other White people. Listen and share content written by Black people, not just content that talks about our experiences. 

Many White people will spend hours researching the perfect restaurant, vacation spot, the list goes on, but when it comes to learning about the Black community, “I don’t know where to start.” Which is hilarious, because I feel like White people are always saying that they have a Black friend so you would think that they would have some idea on where to start. 

All you have to do is channel that same energy into learning more about us. Identify the glaring gaps within the community like housing, education, employment, etc. and start the process of filling them. If you see that your company doesn’t have any Black people then hire them and if you have Black employees then survey them to uncover unmet needs. There’s no reason to waste your money on hiring a White women-owned diversity firm. 

Take that money and use it to fight racism, not just talk about it. The next step which seems like common sense, but obviously common sense isn’t all that common anymore, is if you see someone unjustly being treated then say something. 

Again, I’m all about the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated. The time for talk is over. 

Like NAACP Image Award Nominee, Atlanta based activist Kimberly Jones  said in an interview, “I think the only way something is going to come out of this is if we start making the necessary changes ourselves. Because it’s been proven time and time again that we’re on our own. The saddest part about that is that racism is not a Black issue that white people need to empathize with. Racism is a white problem. They caused it. They need to fix it. But I don’t have faith anymore that that’s going to happen.”

I want nothing more than to be proven wrong, but I feel the same way Kimberly does. It’s like Black people have been given a  puzzle that we didn’t ask for and are now being forced to put these pieces together as soon as possible. 

We’ve been working on this puzzle for over 400 years, so it’s time for White people to take over working on the puzzle so we can celebrate the final image of what equality and justice really looks like in God’s eyes.

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Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode. Don’t forget to check out the Prayer and Gratitude Journal for Men and Women of Faith that is available for sale on Amazon. 

If you enjoy Hustle in Faith’s content, please consider becoming a supporter by donating or purchasing a Prayer and Gratitude Journal for Men and Women of Faith from Amazon to help offset the cost of producing this show.

Be sure to connect with us on Facebook and Pinterest. Remember, if you’re everything to everyone then you risk being no one. You never know who will inspire, see you in the next episode!

Welcome to Hustle in Faith. This podcast is dedicated to helping you find your trail to a happier healthier you by discussing topics regarding Christianity, health & wellness, beauty & so much more! I’m your host Tosha Johnson.

This is episode 110: Where do we go from here?

Last week was a very rough week. It was a rough week for Americans, but especially for Black people. I had actually taken off Friday thru Tuesday before all of the protests started happening. God clearly knew I was going to need that time off from work. I went back to work on Wednesday, but my heart wasn’t in it.

However, like most Black people, I’ve mastered the art of wearing the mask, especially at work. For those of you not familiar with this phrase, it’s in reference to Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, We Wear the Mask. It references an invisible mask that you wear in order to hide your emotions so that you can perform and do what you need to do in order to make it through the day. 

In any case, I had the hardest time focusing especially when some ignorant White person would say, “I’m all for protests, but not the looting,” this comment rubbed me the wrong way, because I didn’t think that this person even cared about the protests. This foolish person did not take the time to learn that I’m not for looting either.

Thursday was when my 1:1 was scheduled with my manager. I was all ready to have my meeting with my manager and plow right through the meeting so I could tackle the rest of my to do list. Before we started the meeting he threw me a curveball. He asked me, “Tosha, “Are you okay?” How are you and your mom doing? I was thinking about you guys all week. Are you okay?”

I’m well aware that this is a simple question. During this point and time, he just didn’t realize how complex the answer was for me. I was NOT expecting that question. It truly took me by surprise. Here’s why. I’ve never had a White coworker, let alone a manager, who truly wanted to know the answer to that question; and, having it tied to race was just unbelievable.  

I’ve always been more of an introvert at work. Being the only Black person in the company or on your team will do that to you. Plus, years of trying to avoid White tears situations, years of trying to avoid not getting angry when other people get promoted because of who they know instead of what they know, years of not being paid an equal salary to your coworkers, and years of trying to avoid annoying microaggressions don’t necessarily leave you in the mood to feel up to talking. So I basically just avoid encountering any unnecessary awkward situations by just doing my job and look forward to the moment when work is over so I can take off my mask.

So when my manager asked me this question, I think I said, “I’m Ok,” really quickly with a long pause. The long pause was because I could quickly sense that my mask was coming off and I was trying so desperately to put it back on.  I was so happy that we weren’t on video because I was trying so hard to hold back tears; needless to say, he could still hear the pain. 

All of these senseless deaths, the fear and anger at the protests, thinking back on my own experiences just got to me. I legit could not keep that mask on anymore. I took off my mask and we ended up having a really great conversation about race. Since I was upset and unable to truly articulate my true feelings at that moment in time, I shared a podcast episode that I recorded for my English students overseas titled, “Why can’t we all just get along?”

I explained to my manager that I recorded this episode to help my English students overseas understand why these protests were occurring. Based on our conversation, I hastily shared it with him. The next day, the head of our practice called and we talked as well. We talked about different parts of the podcast and the parts that affected him the most. When he brought up the part on my podcast where I showed up for interviews and the job magically disappeared I lost it again.

I was so angry with myself. I never cry at work. I just kept talking to myself, “Why can’t I keep this mask on?!” I can count on one hand the number of times I showed emotions at work. You want to know how many? Twice. Both with these two White guys! LOL Again, these were the only two instances because again I’ve mastered the art of wearing the mask. 

I wish I wouldn’t have gotten emotional, but I feel blessed that I was able to even have those conversations. The one question that came up during my conversation and one that I kept hearing was, “What can we do?” “Where do we go from here? To me, ”Where do we go from here is where we should have been in the first place; giving equality and justice for all (Act 10:34-35). 

We need to “actually” put Christ’s golden rule into practice (Lk 6:31). America has been lying for years that everyone receives equality and justice. In order for everyone to truly receive equality and justice, people (especially white people) must take off their blinders that are filled with lies and deception. There is no equality and justice in America.

If there were true equality and justice for all, every human being would be enjoying their God-given birthright. Human equality is a God-given right for all skin tones. God has NO preference when it comes to skin tone. Evidence of this fact is that He made us from one bloodline (Act 17:26). Diversity in skin tones aka what we call race is equal in God’s eyesight (Rom 2:11). This is why God did not give us a choice as to what race we are born into. Again, in God’s eyes, all skin tones are equal. The mere fact that every race is represented in heaven demonstrates that God has no problem with race (Rev 7:9).

Therefore, no race has the right to penalize another group of people based on their race.  Again, race, which is diversity in skin tone, was created by God to give humans choices to enjoy. Diversity in skin tone was NOT created for one group to segregate and dominate another group.

If our government truly believes in God’s equality and justice, we would be able to see it in three major areas of life: 1) Housing, 2) Education, and 3)Employment. In order to begin the process of leveling the playing field, I believe the aforementioned major three areas need to be immediately addressed.

Now before we dig into these topics, please view the below video on How to Understand Systemic Racism and other videos throughout this post. These videos are going to help further reinforce my point.

So let’s attempt to tackle the first issue. Housing.  

When many people think about the American Dream, the image that comes to mind is a white house in a picket fence in a beautiful peaceful neighborhood. However, for many Black people, this dream is just a dream. Many people of color, especially Black people have a much lower rate of homeownership than White people. The main reason why this is the case is due to redlining.

For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it’s when the government created maps of cities and drew lines that essentially blocked people of color, mainly Black people, from gaining access to public and private funds. This redlining blocked Black people from receiving mortgages, loans, funding for schools and other neighborhood amenities. It is due to redlining as to why most Black neighborhoods look like war torn countries.

Most banks will not give Black people equity loans so that they can beautify their homes which in turn helps to beautify the neighborhood. Due to redlining, this is why most Black people try to move to diverse areas. Black people know that the moment White people stop investing in an area that they (Black people) choose to live in would end up leaving them (Black people) with property that they would not be able to sell.

This practice of redlining began after the Civil War. Although it supposedly ended in 1977 under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), every person of color knows this is NOT the case. Redlining still exists in one form or another. If the government decides to put money into these war torn areas, they become less of an option for Blacks due to gentrification.

For example, you would never know it but the Old Town area near Seward Park in Chicago was one of the deadliest spots in Chicago. It was home to Cabrini Green. I know because my mom grew up there. In the case of Cabrini Green, the city kicked out all of the folks that lived there and promised those residents a shot at living in one of the “new buildings” that were going to be built. Surprise, surprise this did NOT happen. Many of those residents ended up being displaced to areas further South or West in the city or even suburbs like Maywood, Aurora, etc. 

Then to add further insult to injury the White people typically end up changing the name of the area and lie about how long the new area with the new name has been in existence. This is in an attempt to erase the stigma that people of color once lived in that area. Check out the articles on the site. They actually tried to change the name Cabrini Green to Noca but many residents were not having it.

Case in point, the Bulls used to play in an area called the West side. It was a predominantly Black and Latino area. Since White people moved into the area it’s now called Ukranian Village. Michael Jordan did not play in Ukranian Village. He played on the West side. Many people who don’t bother to study history will probably never know this information. Knowing the history and problems of gentrification is why many residents from the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago, which is a predominantly Latino area, are currently upset by the White people attempting to move into their area.

Once White people move in, they literally drive out the people of color by raising the rent and property taxes to exorbitant amounts that ultimately end up forcing out the people of color and eventually turning the neighborhood into yet another White affluent neighborhood. Gentrification and changing the name of their conquest are common things for White people to do when it comes to real estate. They are trying to do the same to Harlem located in New York. I can’t believe they wanted to change the name Harlem to  SoHa. Absolutely ridiculous!

 It makes me sad to think about how our generational wealth has been taken from us. Just think, if towns like Tulsa or Rosewood were allowed to thrive, we would not have the problems that we are having. Check out the below video about Tulsa.

These towns were created due to the blatant discrimination many Black people faced. The Black people in these towns created their own thriving communities. These towns were filled with black professionals who owned their own businesses, doctors, and pharmacists. Tulsa had more than 300 black-owned businesses and was referred to as the Black Wall Street. Sadly, in both instances, the KKK literally invaded both Tulsa and Rosewood and burned them to the ground. In fact, the 1921 Tulsa Race Riots was deemed the deadliest race riot in history.

If you really think about it, White people have benefited from 400 years of free labor due to slavery, burned down 2 major thriving Black communities (that we know of, it could have been more) and continue to have a government system filled with laws that have and continue to disenfranchise Black communities, reparations should not be a controversial topic. Plus, the Japanese were able to receive compensation for the hardships that they endured.

Americans are constantly told Never to forget the Holocaust and 9/11, but most automatically shut down the conversation if Black people start talking about slavery. At the very least, America can level the playing field via education. Brown vs. Education was supposed to address the issues that many Black people face in their attempt to receive a quality education. We know that this is not the case.

Evidence of this fact can be proven by asking yourself, “Would you want your child to go to a dilapidated school in the inner city?” or on the South or West side of Chicago? If you’re being honest, the answer would be a resounding, “No.” Guess, what? Most Black kids don’t want to go there either. The schools are dilapidated because they don’t have  any money for supplies. To make matters worse, the teachers are poorly paid and many have no incentive nor initiative to teach these kids. This was something that I never experienced thanks to the numerous sacrifices my parents made.

Nonetheless, I still had my share of hardships; which brings to point #3 employment. Once I graduated from college, I had the hardest time trying to find a full-time direct hire position. Even though I graduated in 4 years while working full time while attending college, I still couldn’t land a full time gig. I could only get dead end temp jobs which made me seriously question why I even went to college.

I know one of the main reasons it was hard for me to find a job is because I have an ethnic-sounding name. My name is LaTosha. If someone wasn’t sure of my name and actually contacted me, once I showed up the job was magically filled. 

I was so happy when LinkedIn appeared on the scene because I was tired of wasting my time researching the company and the role, getting dressed up and paying for parking only to have the interview last for 5 minutes because they didn’t want someone Black working for their company.

LinkedIn made it possible for the company to know that I was Black before I showed up so in case they wanted to discriminate against me, they could at least not waste my time and money applying with them.

The reason I became so successful is because my mom steered me in the right direction.  She always said that if you can’t walk through the front door, be creative. Don’t throw up your hands and quit. Make a window or create a tunnel to get to the other side of that door. 

In other words, I created a business that made me more marketable that showcased my talents and skills. All of which helped me to land opportunities that I never would have received if I went the traditional route and solely relied on my resume. 

Due to inequalities that exist, Black people have to be WAY more creative in landing a job and this should not be the case.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” For those who continue to call our protests “riots” the way to silence them is to give equal rights and justice for all by addressing Black America’s housing, education, and employment issues. We don’t want to be out in these streets any more than you do.

Other videos/ articles I recommend:

This is America

America Protests Police Brutality and Systemic Racism | The Daily Social Distancing Show

Remove police immunity

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