{"id":27903,"date":"2021-11-26T13:24:03","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T13:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/blog\/adobe\/everybody-needs-to-have-the-talk\/"},"modified":"2021-11-26T13:24:03","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T13:24:03","slug":"everybody-needs-to-have-the-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/blog\/adobe\/everybody-needs-to-have-the-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Everybody needs to have \u201cThe Talk\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In recognition of Black History Month, Adobe employee Earnest Mack discusses \u201cThe Talk,\u201d and why all parents, not just Black parents, should have it with their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never forget this talk. Not ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Earnest Mack says about \u201cThe Talk,\u201d a polite name for a very difficult conversation about racism many Black parents in the United States are compelled to have with their children \u2014 particularly in interacting with law enforcement and other authority figures. His parents had The Talk with him, and as a father of nine and grandfather of ten, he\u2019s no stranger to leading the conversation himself.<\/p>\n

During the story he shared at Adobe For All Week, Adobe\u2019s annual internal D&I event, Earnest encouraged all parents to have The Talk with their kids to increase understanding and in hopes that, one day, those types of conversations will be a thing of the past altogether.<\/p>\n

We talked with Earnest about what it was like to share his story and his own experiences with The Talk.<\/p>\n

Why did you feel it was important to share your story broadly with employees?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wanted to share my experiences especially after what we\u2019ve seen over the past year. After George Floyd\u2019s murder, I started getting calls from friends and coworkers, many of them white, apologizing or asking questions about what they can do. I wanted to use my story to give people some understanding of what I\u2019ve experienced and what Black people experience all the time. We have to have \u201cThe Talk\u201d with our kids to prepare them for what they might face. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a conversation most white people have to have with their kids.<\/p>\n

What emotions did you feel as you prepared to share your story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly, it made me sad. Because here it is 2021, and I still have to have that same conversation my parents had with me. I have to explain that you\u2019re going to face situations that other people don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

I have nine children and ten grandchildren, and I look at those little bitty kids and I hope that by the time they\u2019re old enough to understand that we don\u2019t have to have this talk anymore. Unfortunately, I know that we will, though.<\/p>\n

Why do you think that\u2019s the case?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Look, I was born in the \u201860s, so I\u2019ve been around for a long time and I\u2019ve experienced racism at the highest levels. I\u2019ve been shot at. I\u2019ve been chased. I\u2019ve been a lot of things just because of the color of my skin.<\/p>\n

I want to think things will change that quickly, but I look at the images from the insurrection at the Capitol Building on January 6. For the people who have actually been arrested, how have the police treated them? Can you imagine how different it would be if those people were Black? Black Lives Matters protestors were tear-gassed and handcuffed and so much worse.<\/p>\n

And this comes on the heels of the decision to not charge the officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times. And the whole outrageous situation that resulted in Breonna Taylor\u2019s death. Unfortunately, these incidents demonstrate that there is a different justice system for us versus everybody else, and so you have to explain that to your kids.<\/p>\n

Have you faced experiences where The Talk applied?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, even recently. About two years ago, my wife and I were going on a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. We had already boarded, and about 20 minutes before we\u2019re supposed to set sail, I hear my name called over the intercom. I go out to the gangway, and the port authority police are there, and they say there\u2019s a warrant out for my arrest from 1994 in Alabama.<\/p>\n

Long story short, they ended up handcuffing me, perp-walking me off the ship and putting me in the back of a police car. They obviously had the wrong person. We missed the cruise, and they marched me out like a criminal in front of everyone because of a theft from 25 years ago \u2014 which, by the way, they did not bother to get their actual information straight about beforehand.<\/p>\n

How did you react in that situation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I stayed calm. I knew I wasn\u2019t this person they were looking for, but more importantly, what would have happened if I had started being belligerent? That\u2019s where you have to draw on The Talk, on that advice your parents gave you, the advice you give to your own children.<\/p>\n

The cruise company apologized, refunded our money and ended up giving us a cruise for free, but that could have turned into an ugly situation, and for what? Nothing.<\/p>\n

Why do you think it\u2019s important for all parents, not just parents of Black children, to have The Talk?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not enough to just sit back and say, \u201cWe don\u2019t hate in this house, so my child is not going to be racist.\u201d You need to reinforce it and explain it, tell them stories, show them what Black people are experiencing and how it\u2019s different from your own experience. If there are protests, talk about why people are protesting. Help them understand that pro-Black does not mean anti-white. Don\u2019t let it go through one ear and out the other. It\u2019s important to not just hear but to start listening and understanding, and to help your kids do the same.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source : Adobe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recognition of Black History Month, Adobe employee Earnest Mack discusses \u201cThe Talk,\u201d and why all parents, not just Black parents, should have it with their children. \u201cYou never forget this talk. Not ever.\u201d That\u2019s what Earnest Mack says about \u201cThe Talk,\u201d a polite name for a very difficult conversation about racism many Black parents …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27906,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27903\/revisions\/27906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepicpedia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}