This week my company offered the opportunity for all of us to watch, and discuss in many open forum locations, the movie The Hate U Give.
I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to watch this movie at work with people from so many different ethnic/cultural/socio-economic backgrounds. And to discuss the issues together, in open dialog and with a tone of respect and even love, was eye opening.
Many of the topics we discussed were not new to me. I’ve been an manager and in the corporate world for over sixteen years and we have training on diversity and inclusion.
But this movie and the open discussions following were a little more eye opening and emotional. To see a Vice President, who is a black man, that I respect and have worked with many times over the years, tear up about the unconscious bias that he and his sons face, touched my heart and mind in a way I can’t fully describe.
I want to do all that I can to make sure that my children understand that we live in a complex environment with experiences that shape all of us and we must take time to try and learn from each other.
This is not just a nice thing to do. This is a God thing to do. God is love (1 John 4:7-8). Loving our neighbor means we need to try and understand what they are dealing with without taking sides all the time based on a group we are pushed into by the media or our own family.
Take a minute to educate yourself on what these terms mean and do research to help understand the historical issues that have shaped the people around you. And take time to watch this movie. I promise it is worth it to help understand how to better love your neighbor.
- unconscious bias
- code-switching
- the talk (not the sex talk)
- “Thug Life” The hate U give little infants f*s everybody
