Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Hi, I'm Sharon and I'm Lisa, and together
: We're the Introvert Sisters. Welcome to our podcast. Welcome guys. Welcome, welcome. Welcome. This is actually sort of like an in between episode. It's the first installment of what we're calling "off topic", the Introvert Sisters Off Topic. And so it's where we center on, focus on non introversion related content. We talk about news, culture, current events, you know, what's happening in the world and there is definitely a lot
: happening in the world right now. There is. And you know, we've been planning to introduce this in season two, but given all the givens, given what's been happening, you know, we had to do it now.
: Yeah. We had to do it now. And you know, I'm actually glad that we decided to do these off topic segments; we're going to just drop them whenever. They're going to be random. Like it's not going to be on a cadence the way our regular episodes are, but whenever there's something going on, you know, that we feel needs to be discussed or highlighted, we're going to drop one of these.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: And, you know, this is like the perfect time, of course, but you know, it's no surprise. We're going to be talking about #blackout tuesday. And you know, the importance of what led up to it, you know, George Floyd and the police brutality and the riots and the protests and all of that. And, where do we go from here, but first, Sis, let's check in with each other, right. Cause it's all about the sisters. Like, how are you, how are you feeling you know, emotionally, like what's going on with you and how is Barbados, for that matter?
: It has been a very strange week because if you are a black person, you cannot be unaffected by this, wherever you live in the world. And particularly in the Caribbean where we're coming out of the same or a similar post-slavery context, many of us feel this viscerally, even though it's going on in the U S, right. And you know, so there's shock, there's anger. There is, you know, there's emotion, there's helplessness, you know, there's the whole range. And then you're thinking, okay, you know, I would love to be able to go to a big protest. I would love to be able to do something. What can I do? What can I do?
: And is Barbados doing anything because I know there's one, there's a protest being organized in Jamaica. Obviously everybody has seen all the other big ones, you know, in the major cities of the world. S o it's possible. Are they, are you going to do anything?
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Well, yes. apparently there's going to be a protest in a couple of days, but it's going to be a protest with a difference, really, because we're still in post Corona times. Right.
: And there are some restrictions on public gatherings. 10 people can gather at a time.
: So how are they going to do it?
: The people who are organizing the protest, and I can't remember off hand who they are, are going to gather in three different locations, 10 people in each location to register their protest. One of those is the US embassy here. I'm not sure what the other two locations are .
: That's good.
: That's good. Well, I hope i t gets captured. You know what I mean - I'm assuming, you know, people will have their phones and, you know, maybe people with drones can, you know, chime in, send a drone and some footage, whatever, is captured.
: Yeah. Yes, yes. But I'm glad something is happening because something does need to happen. Things need to change. So yes. What about you? What's happening where you are?
: Cause you are in ...
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Everything is happening where I am. I'm actually in Jersey City. So very close to New York, very close to Newark and there are even protests. Not far from, from where I live as well. So, you know, there's a lot going on. The mood is, the mood is troubling. It's troubling, but yet it's hopeful. Yes. Yeah. Because you know, growth, growth is often painful and this is the painful part that we're going through right now.
: Yeah. Yeah.
: And so it's just sort of, for me personally, it's trying to figure out a way to protest and make a contribution in a way that is safe. That is still safe for me. Yes. because the thing is I actually, for me to attend a protest, I'm here by myself as you well know.
: Right.
: Nobody's coming to get me. Okay. Right. So like going out to protest, which I would love to do, is not practical, but, you know, I've been finding other ways that we're going to talk about during the show, but this is like the pandemic within the pandemic. Yes. You know, there was already so much going on with COVID and the global health scare and all of that. But now there's the police brutality, which is nothing new.
: No, no, it has been going on for decades.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Centuries, centuries, centuries, yes. Centuries. Right. And of course, like we said before, the most recent incident is George Floyd, but you know, there's Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Atatiana Jefferson, Tamir Rrice, Trayvon
Martin, Eric Garner. Like we could not possibly name all the names. you know, and you know, going as far back, of course, as Emmett Till, I mean, that was 1955. So this isn't new, this is not new, not new at all.
: We're tired, we're tired . Exhausted. And that's actually something that one of your ways of protesting is you've been doing a lot of writing.
: Yes.
: Right. A lot of writing, writing articles about racism, both from a general and a personal perspective. And we'll, we'll drop those in the show notes. Now bear with us guys, the show notes for this are going to be pending for right now. We're just gonna get this episode up and keep it moving. But we are going to fill it out and make it more robust in terms of adding resources that everybody can refer to and get help and guidance from.
: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yes. There's a lot, there is a lot, there is a lot, you know, one of the things that I wrote about, and I think you wanted to talk about is, you know, the, the existing while black, right.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: You know, those, those incidents where white women call the police on black people for no reason.
: None.
: And I think there was a case you wanted to mention.
: Well, yes. Just, what was her name? Cooper. Amy Cooper, who has been renamed, Darth Karen. If you all don't know what a Karen is Google it and inform yourself. But yeah, she was, she called the cops on a guy whose name was also Cooper because she had her dog unleashed, he asked her to put a leash on her dog and she was upset because this "uppity Negro" asked her to do something that actually was the law.
: Right
: Exactly. Exactly.
: And so she called the cops.
: Yes. And she is the one that was wrong.
: They don't care.
: I know
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: They do not care.
: T oo many Darth Karens around.
: too many Darth Karens around. Right. So anyway, but the good thing, like, for example, in her case, she lost her job. She lost her dog. I think that she has been banned from Central Park. Right. How do you get, you know how big Central Park is?
: She cannot go into Central Park.
: Brought that on herself. I do not feel sorry for her at all. D on't emulate Darth Karen. Okay. No, no.
: Don't do that. Christian Cooper is the African American man. Right. I knew his name was Cooper as well. Christian Cooper is his name. And, yeah, he was like, he's a birder. He was trying to watch birds, you can't get any more quiet and peaceful than that.
: Clearly bird watching while black is not allowed either.
: None of it is allowed.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: And we will talk more about this. It's basically been a crazy few months. And just as we were starting to say, okay, you know, the Covid thing is starting to calm down a little though. It's still not normal. Then we got to the murder, the protests, because I am not gonna, I'm not calling them riots.
: Okay. True. True.
: Okay. I'm not calling them riots, you know
: True. I agree with that because we have to actually be very careful with our language.
: Exactly.
: and how everything is framed.
: This is a legitimate response to murder and ine quality. Okay. So, you know, we're in shock basically. Yeah. And we want to talk about this as part of our healing process and to help anyone who is feeling the same, anyone who wants to know, okay, what can you do next. Right. We are people of color. We have experienced racism, boy have we experienced racism. We have prayed for our families, our friends, ourselves, you know, a lot of the time we grit our teeth, we get on with it, but silence will not help. It's time to speak.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Yeah. Yeah. The time for just, going along to get along is done. It is done. It is done, done, done.
: All right. So, and, and so therefore, you know, this is us speaking, obviously we've spoken, you know, privately, offline, et cetera, but this is us, in addition to what you have written , in addition to what I have posted, this is another part of us and our activism and adding to the conversation or providing resources for okay. Beyond, blackout Tuesday, beyond these protests, what can just sort of, you know, the ordinary citizen, what can we all do wherever we happen to be? So, let's jump in. So how did you first hear about blackout Tuesday?
: Well, you go first.
: Maybe I should go first. So I first, I first heard about it on Instagram since I, as you know, I basically live on Instagram. I know.
: I heard about it on Instagram because you live on Instagram
: and you were like, what is this girl posting about now?
: So let's talk a bit about blackout Tuesday.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Okay. So, yeah. We're going to talk about blackout Tuesday, what it was supposed to do, did it work. All right. So here's the good, the bad and the ugly, right. so let's start with the bad and the ugly. So the background again is, the movement was started by two recording industry executives. And I'll just read a quote cause it's the easiest way to sort of distill it all down for everyone.
: “Blackout Tuesday gained traction from the work of music executives Jamila
Thomas and Brianna Agyemang, who led an effort in the music community to pause normal business operations on June 2nd "in observance of the long-standing racism and inequality that exists from the boardroom to the boulevard."
: Right. So that's how it started. and their intention, I think was really to sort of take a pause. Not to be silenced, but to plan. And to leave space for other voices to be heard, to leave space for other voices to be heard as well. So their hashtag actually was #the show must be paused, which of course is a flipping of "the show must go on". And they're saying, no, the show, the show cannot go on because what's been going on is wrong. So the show must be paused and then somehow it morphed into something else. And when I looked at their social media graphics, I realized that, you know, the, the sort of pre headline or whatever it was read music industry blackout
Tuesday, then that's what happened. But then their actual hashtag symbol was,
#theshowmustbepaused , but you know, people just took it and ran with it and called it blackout Tuesday, and here we are. Fine.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: No problem. Right. So, what ended up happening was people posted plain black squares, but because they used the black lives matter hashtag what ended up happening was like, if you wanted information on black lives matter, especially on that day, it was hard. It was just a sea of black squares. No information.
: Yes.
: Right. So again, it's not, it's not the organizer's fault. They actually were quite clear what they intended to do and they communicated it well, but somebody ran with it and then
: Hijacked the whole thing,
: Hijacked the whole thing, anyhow. So that's what happened, but there's information.
They have a website, you know, the show must be paused.com, right. We're going to have it in the show notes, you know, go on there. A gain, it's www.theshowmustbepaused.com. You're going to find all the information that you want about the original intention of what became blackout Tuesday. That was the bad and the ugly. but you know, let's focus on the good, because there, there, there has been a lot of good
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: There has, because some people realized what was happening in terms of the crucial black lives matter information being suppressed and called attention to it. And many, many people listened. People were, you know, were able to clarify that it was not a call to mute our own voices and that now more than ever, we need to be seen, heard and take up space. So people went back, a lot of people went back and removed the black lives matter hashtag you know and towards the end of the day, you were starting to see more of the information you would expect to see when you use that hashtag. Right.
: Well, I think, I think part of what they wanted to do is actually was, you know, disrupt, disrupt the normal course of business. And in fact, they ended, although it sort of went sideways, but it came back and they did in fact end up doing that.
: They did.
: And every major outlet covered it. And because people were genuinely, you know, they were doing their social listening as well. And so a lot of the major outlets, you know, included tips - by the way.
: Yeah. Don't use the black lives matter. Yes.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: I saw that. I saw that, you know, one of, one of my favorite Instagram posts was from our girl Riri. She said today, we ain't selling shit and we ain't buying shit. Right.
Hashtag blackoutTuesday. A nd so that was, that was good. you know, there's, there are questions to be asked and no doubt we'll get to that about whether this was performative or people really meant it? But we'll come back to that. But the other thing is that it was global. I had friends from over in Europe showing, sending me pictures, you know, there were protests in France, Ireland, Cape town, Amsterdam,
London, Berlin, Denmark. Right, right, right. of course,
: Tel Aviv. yes.
: I mean, global,
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Global. Yeah. I mean, so there were, there were protests, there were protests on, on both, both ends. And shall we say protests in terms of, you know, the out in the street picketing and so on. Yeah. In support of, and of course again, they, they, they were inspired by what happened to George Floyd. Let's always put that front and center because he, he really was the sort of catalyst for this and everything that happened. So all of these protests that you're talking about are these, the in person, people on the ground, boots on the ground, out in the streets doing, doing that work.
And then the people who are protesting digitally, digitally, that also became global. The, the, blackout Tuesday. And the show must be paused. All of that was, you know, became global as well because literally, I mean, it must have been billions. It must've been billions. I would like to find the numbers at some point.
: And I was happy to see also that yes, yes, yes. There was a lot of very valid black lives matter, but they did not also forget about the people who had been killed, who had been murdered, about George Floyd, about Trayvon, about all of them. Right.
Those names were called and they were called often. Yes. That was important.
: Yes, indeed. Actually, speaking of speaking of protests globally, did you see the
John Boyega video?
: Why do you laugh?
: I laugh because he said, I don't care if it loses me my career. It's time to speak out about this. Yeah. Yeah. And so then
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: I'm glad you sanitized that because I don't care was more IDGAF. Yeah. Which I think is why he literally said, he said, yeah
: I've been heartened to see how many people are speaking out.
: I have been, again, we're going to get onto something, the performativeness . That we're going to talk about in a little bit, but, other, other good things that happened is that the Minneapolis public schools, I guess, organization as a group, I guess a group, right. They terminated their contract with the police department because of George, George Floyd's death. And then in terms of the police, because part of the, part of what people are protesting is apart from the murder, let's call it what it is.
: It was murder.
: It was, you know, the, as usual, you know, they're very hesitant, the powers that be were very hesitant to bring charges against the police.
: As they always are.
: And then they brought these bogus, I think it started off as third degree, manslaughter, I don't even know what it was. It was some slap on the wrist charge just to supposedly quiet the people, which clearly did not, did not work.
: People are tired of dying.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Right, tired, tired, tired. They'd only charged the one. And now everybody has been charged. All of the officers have been charged. And they've upgraded the charges for Derek Chauvin to second degree murder. I feel like you were going to say something
: Let's hope that you know, that the trial and sentencing reflects the gravity of this.
Okay. Yes. Because hhe charges,
: It is progress that they were even charged, but we know that don't mean anything.
Yes, exactly. I think so. Yes.
: Yes. other good things is, well, blackout Tuesday here, here's read the conspiracy theorists having a few days. Right. So blackout Tuesday has it happened here in the States was also on election day. Right. So the conspiracy theorists were like, y'all y'all are not staying focused. Y'all out here posting a square,
: Go out and vote
: And these people about to run away with the election. Oh boy.
: Again, because everybody, everybody was really, you could tell that if social media has a mood, the mood on social media was different.
: Yes.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: You could feel and sense a change and people were taking kindly to being corrected, you know. N ormally you would correct or guide somebody on social media and it devolves into an argument. Yes. What was happening on Tuesday was if somebody had posted using the wrong hashtag people, somebody might jump into the comments and say, Hey, can you use a different hashtag. Here's the reason why.
And they'd say, okay , no problem, update t he caption .
: More listening went on than usual
: Right. And therefore, so, so messages were getting through and one of the messages that was getting through was:
: guys, stay focused, go out and vote. And so one of the results of that was that Ella
Jones became the first black female mayor of Ferguson, Missouri.
: Hallelujah.
: Woo. Right. So amazing, amazing accomplishment there. You know, it's a pity that we're still at the point where we have to celebrate it
: First, first of that nature, but fine. We'll take it.
: Well take the win.
: We'll take the win. Yeah. Have there been any other...
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Donations: Rent The Runway allocated $100K to the NAACP and similar organizations, and $1M to support black designers. I have seen, you know, I'm in the sort of digital marketing world and I have seen people allocating free accounts to black creators and doing something to support the people who are historically disadvantaged. I am seeing of course, more of my white colleagues than ever before, start to truly engage with this idea of their privilege, of Black Lives. Matter, of senseless killing, of all the issues that the George Floyd murder raises. Right.
: And speaking
: Of - little divergence here. So how has it been in terms of you and your friends list?
: Because mine is like the reaping. G irl, slash and burn operation at this point. All right.
: I have to say that over the years, since 2016 in fact, right. We all know what happened in 2016, he who shall not be named. Right. Okay. So since then, my friends list has been pruned over the years. There are certain views. And certainly, you know, I, I really, I believe in being aware of the diversity and multiplicity of views, right. Yeah. You can't fight it if you don't know it. It's out there. Okay. That does not mean that there are certain things I want to see in my social media feed. Right. And there are certain people and, you know, if they support certain things, I know we don't have enough in common. So I have not had to cut too many people out lately because I have been doing it over the last four years.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: And actually I have been very pleasantly surprised by some of the people who are, who are coming to me and saying, okay, now I'm starting to get it, but you better believe I am also making a note of those people, black and white, who are not saying anything, who are not engaged with this, who don't appear to have an opinion. You know I mean, everybody has to do their thing the way that they do it, but I've made a mental note. You know, we'll be talking, we'll be talking.
: Yeah. I mean, for me,
: I tend to, you know, you get these friend requests, you know, over the years and some people you really know better than others. And you're like, okay, you know, I have not up until probably this year really been one to just automatically decline a friend invite. Right. But I'm getting well, I'm more and more and more in that space.
So, I'm pruning,
: preemptively from that perspective. But also, but also like you, I am looking at,
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: I'm looking at who is responding to what I post. I'm looking at, which posts they are responding to. If you can only respond if I post a, you know, a pretty flower or a joke or you know, a costume or something, but it's crickets i f I post about, Hey, this is - it's racism. And this is how it's affecting me and us and my community, my community. And you have nothing to say, bye, good bye. Very, very telling, you know and you don't have to get on to my account, and write a screed, no, you can hit Like, because, because my thing is whatever, obviously in general, what you do on
Facebook, Instagram, et cetera, it's public. Even if it's public to your friends, sometimes your friends need to see that you have supported this. Even if it's just a like, doesn't have to be a long comment. if you can't even drop a like.
: No, no. And of course, if you're talking foolishness, yes, I don't. I don't have time for it. You know. And I have, you know, I've also taken on, as you're aware, some educational work for the racists that may happen to be among my friends group because I'm like, well, you know, if they didn't want to hear, I can also tell, you can tell when somebody has muted your account, right.
: Yes.
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: That is an example of privilege right there. We are out here, being treated in a racist fashion day in, day out because we are the color that we are. Yes. You don't want to be uncomfortable for two minutes. And read something cause you're white. You can afford to switch it off . We can't ever switch it off. Exactly. So again .... just be gone, just go.
: Right. So, but I've been posting educational information about racism. And so, and for me, bear in mind. It's a risk. Well, let me tell you why it's a risk because I'm looking for a job right now. We all know if you have any common sense that prospective employers go and check your social media. Right. So I already know, I'm like, okay, well at least, you know, you're putting this stuff out there. With every post, with every post I know it's whittling down my chances, but I have to do it.
: Yes, yes, absolutely.
: Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah. Right. So where to, where to from here, where to from here, what what's, what's next or what are the next steps Well,
: Now we need to talk about, you know, accountability. We need to talk about protesting. We need to talk about contributing, voting, you know, talk about all of those things and I'm trying to actually get it up now, But
: Let me see if I can, I can find it. So one of the things that I have been doing myself
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: Is writing, as you said, thank you. This is not something that I have tended to do in public. I have had conversations about race with my friends across the spectrum in private, right. Occasionally something will happen. I will, I will support stuff that other people post. I have not talked about it a lot myself. And so I have actually recently written two pieces. Right. Right . And I've shared both of them on LinkedIn, which, you know, again is very unusual.
: So what's the response?
: So the response has been,
: What's been the demography of the responders?
: Girl, G the response has been fantastic. I have to say, right. I have been pleasantly surprised because you know, when you're doing things in a business setting, you can't always tell what people's politics, you know, politics, small P, are right, right.
Racial politics, right. So I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who have said, thank you for opening my eyes to this. I didn't realize it was going on. Here's how I'm going to engage with this. I'm going to do better. You know, I know you're tired of talking about it, but if you didn't speak, how would we know?
: Right. Google, but anyway, okay.
: Don't get me started on that.
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: No, no, no, no, no, no. Let's not get, let's not get started on that. You know. So, you know, that has been .. In fact, t he second piece that I wrote, which was simply called
" I'm tired". " I'm tired of racism", is the one that has really got the most response. And you know, people, you know, a lot of people, you know, they see me on LinkedIn, they see me as a professional. And so I posted, you know, that sometimes people take a look at my profile picture and assume that I'm worthless. I have two master's degrees. I've been writing for 30 years and you know, they still want to underpay me sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, putting it in that business context seems to resonate with a lot of people, you know, a lot of those people are people who have worked with me or heard my work or read my work.
: So they know what my work is like.
: And it was so it's weird, I wrote this on Medium and I can tell, you know, on Medium you can highlight things, but practically every sentence in that has been highlighted by someone. Okay. Really practically every one. Right. I mean, there's literally only the equivalent of two paragraphs that hasn't been highlighted out of that,
: Oh, you must show me sometimes like screencap it or whatever.
: I think you can see it when you go to it . I'll take a look, man.
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: That has definitely been interesting to me that, you know, a lot of people have, and I've had responses from my white colleagues. I've had responses from my black colleagues. Who've said, you know, I've been afraid to talk about this too, but now that you've done it, I'm going to talk.
: Right. and so there's definitely a feeling that, you know, overall, I feel like this is a moment. I feel like there's an opportunity here for change. Maybe I'm naive, optimistic, but I feel that for the first time, in a long time, there are more people who are willing to listen and to hear and to learn. And the fact that people have been protesting and talking about this all around the world, I think is, is a symbol of that.
: So yeah, it's another, it's just another movement, you know, we had, we had it in the sixties, the Civil Rights movement in the sixties. Yes. There've been spurts on and off over the decades, but this is the next big civil rights movement happening right now.
Yeah. Okay.
: So apart from that, then what, what I am very interested in next is accountability.
: I mean, did you put up that black square just because it was trendy or are you actually putting your money where your mouth is and doing something? Are you posting resources? Are you doing something to follow up? Are you contributing to ending racism and promoting black businesses, designers, artists, musicians, authors, bloggers, influencers, models, creatives, and so on. Do you have any Black people on your board or management team? I mean,
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: Hello. Hello. Well, and, and all these pieces that all y' all writing, who is writing these think pieces? Are y'all actively going out and hiring black writers who are living this, who have lived with this and are living this, are you making a conscious effort to hire black writers? You know, we're not about the performance. We don't want it to be performative. Be real, be real, be real.
: And let me just tell you, you know, that I am going through every single solitary, one of the 1300 or however many people I follow on Instagram. And I am checking, I'm checking to see if they have a black square. Right. Of course, you know, the Brown people, I'm not worried about them. I'm going to give you all a pass. Right. But you understand what I mean. Yeah. Right. T he major brands, especially, but even some of these smaller ones, you know, I am checking. Yeah. Okay, fine. You might not have anything on your feed. Is something in your stories. Yes. I have somebody take that. Do you have something on your website? Have you made any statement about this? Where do you stand? I want to know.
: Girl, you know what we have to post - the Ben and Jerry's. Yes. Did you see that I saw that. Ben and Jerry's went off and that's
: The level of commitment that I want.
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: Also want to see people recognizing that, you know, you have not done this in the past. Don't come and pretend that, you know, you've been doing this all along. If you have not. We understand that you have not been about it, but say I'm going to do better and here's how I'm going to do it. That's right.
: And do it and do it because we will be checking. E xactly. Right. It's very much a case of trust, but verify. T there's going to be a lot of verification going on. Yes, yes, yes. Okay. So, you know, the struggle continues. The work continues and you know, of course, of course protesting and resisting. There are so many different ways to do it again for a multiplicity of reasons. I, I'm not going to go out into the street and protest.
: I've explained some of the reasons, earlier in the episode, another part of the reason is that I, you know, we still don't know what the Covid situation is and I have asthma. Right. My, my part of my protest is being alive to be able to protest.
: That is valid.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: And so therefore , don't feel, I guess, really where I'm coming from is just because you can't go out and demonstrate, in, you know, in the streets, in a huge crowd, it does not invalidate your contributions. There are a lot of ways to do it. Everybody can't protest and contribute in the same way. So give people some grace, like, don't assume just because you don't see somebody outside holding up a picket sign, that they are not, interested that they're not engaged and they might be, they might be doing something behind the scenes.
: Actually, one of my Canadian friends, white Canadian friends said to me, I read your article out at the dinner table and we had a conversation about it.
: Oh my gosh. Okay.
: So, you know, people are doing the work in different ways, right. So that was great.
: That's major
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: We should, at some point repost your article. Yes. You know, you don't obviously don't have to attribute the quote from that person. And, but like saying, this is, this is why we're doing what we're doing. And this is the effect. Exactly. You know, I guess I call it digital activism can have. Right. All, all of it, all of it counts as long you are actually doing it. Yeah. You have to do the work, not just pretend to do it. Right. You have to actually do the work. So then another issue to talk about his, you know, because the economy worldwide is also anytime again, because two pandemics, the first pandemic is Corona.
: You know, everybody lost their job, et cetera, et cetera. Right. So they're always, yes, we want y'all to donate. If you can. And corporations, we are looking at you for this. Y'all have the budgets, you all were bailed out. So take some of that bailout money and contribute. Right. And donate financially.
: But on a smaller scale, on an individual level, people might not be able to make a financial contribution because they're like, okay, well, do I donate Or do I pay rent
Probably going to pay rent. Yeah. That is fine. And that's the smart decision. Yes. But there are things you can do for free. You can attend a protest . I will not be doing so, but other people can do so and have, and clearly have done so . Attend a protest.
You can sign a petition, right. Like what, what you talked about with your, your friend that shared your article at the dinner table, have a difficult conversation, have a difficult conversation, amplify the messages that matter .
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: Right. You know, amplify and, and especially another hashtag is amplify black voices and amplify melanated voices. That's part of what we're trying to do here. And those are ways of contributing for free, you know, and speaking, speaking of amplify and not just the voices, voices, voices and images. So again, back to the topic of, you know, the brands online and especially on social media, you know Yeah. Please y'all stop using these black fishing white girls that you try to get tan enough to look black. Right. And actually hire somebody black
: Another, another way to contribute is to speak up in public, defend a friend or a colleague in public, when they're being subjected to racism and in, in, in your presence, you know, don't do this foolishness of you see somebody being mistreated, you're silent in the room. And then you slip around to the person's, to my desk, to Sharon's desk, to whoever's desk afterwards, say, Oh, it was so wrong. What they did, but don't tell me, no, tell them who need it. You need to say that in the room. At the time, in public. Because when you speak up, my white friends and colleagues. When you speak up about this, then your white friends and colleagues will listen. They don't listen to us talking about racism.
: I mean, more people are listening now, but in the past it's been like, you know, you mention it and you know, you're angry, you're sensitive. You can't take a joke. No. So that is why they need the people who are being racist. Need people like them to call them on it. Okay.
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: Be an ally, really be an ally. Cause, and, and again, you have to, you have to bring in the verb. You have to bring in the action.
: It is not a label, it is an action. It is an action.
: Yeah, exactly. I'm on another thing to do that is that is free, but possibly one, the most important is vote. Yes. Right. W e're not just talking about the office of president. We're talking for all the offices for your Congress, people, your senators, secretaries of state. Oh, your voter registrar, county c lerks - whoever is an elected official. Right. You need to be participating in that election, make your voice heard at all levels. Not just at the, at the presidential election, all the primaries at every level, everyone be there. Yes.
: Vote, vote, vote. And by the way vote.
: Yeah. And so, so,
: And then from here on, you know, just, just keep , keep your foot on the gas.
: Yes. Don't get distracted. A pply p ressure, apply pressure, play pressure. Exactly.
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: You know, posting a black square is not enough. You got to do something, you have to do something, something, right. You've got to donate where you can. And we will share some places where you can donate. And I'm sure there are many others. You can educate yourself by following people and activists who are smart about these things. Right.
: Let's start, let's start with why don't y'all all go and start by following Colin Kaepernick. Yes. Listen, he knelt. And y'all didn't like it, people didn't like it. Right. So now you have people out in the streets. Yes. Right. And he was saying the same thing very quietly.
: We will have the handles of a bunch of other activists and people, influencers that you can follow and start learning from because you know, education is a big part of this. Like Sharon said, donate. We'll provide resources as to where you can donate, resources as to books you can read.
: Yeah. Who you can follow hashtags, and this is likely to be a living resource. I mean, we're doing this, we're doing this, this episode. Now this is, this is the time to do it. But as we come up with new things that need to be added, we will definitely be updating our show notes post, which will be sparse at first, but we will be filling it out. Okay. We'll build it out.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1 Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1
: T he revolution will be televised. It will be tweeted. It will be podcast You get the point. Right. it starts with all of us. And so this is one of our contributions. So we hope that you have enjoyed, related to, learned something from this off topic episode of the Introvert Sisters. And so we will catch you next time, catch you next same guys, peace out. Black lives matter. Black lives matter.
Beyond the Black Square: What’s Next After #blackouttuesday | TISOT Ep. 1