A black executive perspective now presents need to know with the award winning hyphenated Dr. Nsenga Burton. Dr. Burton, what do we need to know?

Good morning. Welcome to need to know by Dr. Nsenga on BEP. Today, we'll be discussing a study that was released by the Pew Research Center this week that talked about black Americans and their beliefs around conspiracy theories as it relates to racial progress. Right. So they were called it initially racial conspiracy theories, and then they went back and corrected it and got really negative feedback from readers users, uh, based on the way that the information was presented. So they've gone back and reworked the information. But today I want to talk about this idea of black people and these ideas that we are conspiracy theorists as it relates to our real and live conditions that really do impact. All aspects of our life. Um, and when I say really do impact all aspects of our life. Um, I do mean not only personally, but also professionally. So when we think about the black executive perspective or the black executive podcast and the work that is being done in this particular space. Yeah, I think it is interesting that we do have to consider constantly. People's ideas and beliefs about us, one of which is one of which is that, you know, we're basically too sensitive. We are conspiratorial in our beliefs and we believe that, um, we are being worked against and that it is a conspiracy and not actually based or rooted in fact, when, in fact, it's actually rooted in fact, and data. So I really like, let me just go ahead and say about the Pew Research Center. They do excellent work. Most of the time, I think that the data in this particular report, and I read it, because I heard so much backlash about it is interesting. I think it does give you some insight. It is introspective for particularly the participants. Um, but I do think that the way that they presented initially underscore. Undermine what the data or what the study was really trying to do, which is to say that despite the fact that black people are labeled as conspiracy theorists as it relates to our real and live experiences with systemic racism and things of that nature. Um, we are, um, in fact, um, having to deal with these ideas that we are conspiracy theorists, at least that's what I'm taking from the study. I know there are other things that are coming out of the study. Um, so I wanted to just kind of go over a little bit about it. Um, um, so. Let me read a little bit of, let me read the editorial note to readers. 1st, a version of the study was originally published on June. 10th. we previously use the term racial conspiracy theories, quote, racial conspiracy theories as an editorial shorthand to describe a complex and mixed set of findings by using these words are reporting distorted rather than clarify the point of the study changes to this version, including updated headline, new explainer, paragraphs, some additional context and direct quotes from focus group participants. It's. One of the infographs that they included, um, talks about the majority of black adults say U. S. institutions were designed to hold black people back and then they do percentages. So, for example, they have a list prison system, 74 percent courts and judicial process, 70 percent policing, 68%. Political system, 67 percent economic system, 65 percent news media, 52 percent healthcare system, 51%. So I say all that to say that we do have this information, um, and this data, but the way that it was initially presented without the context. Is the problem and this is what black people, black and brown people, anybody who's really part of a historically disenfranchised group who is, uh, not empowered, um, to add the context and to give the background. The reason we have these ideas is because we are intimately intimately connected to the prison industrial complex. We know what mass incarceration is because we've seen lots of people go to jail. Um, we've had, you know, false, um, accusations. We've seen, um, you know, like the Central Park Five. We've seen people who just basically are railroaded teenagers, railroaded, things of that nature, and then to be found guilty, I mean, found innocence years later, and to find that people were withholding evidence and all of those things. So we've had that happen, um, and we've seen that happen on a large scale. Uh, we've also seen police brutality, you know, uh, Amadou Diallo Diallo, anybody, you know, there's, there's so many people that we can talk about even currently that we can talk about. Um, and so this idea that black people are basically stuck in their heads. About these real experiences is really fascinating to me. The fact that someone would even do a study about that, like, you know, what's real and, you know, what's imagine and that we will be labeled or thought of as conspiracy conspiracy theorists as it relates to our lived experiences. So, 1 of the things I wanted to talk about today is the fact that these experiences can be up for discussion, but they are not up for debate. So you can have all of the studies that you want to have. You can interview, I think it was 4, 700, uh, black folks, um, for this particular study. Uh, but to me, the end result is what does it mean? What does it mean? And what it means is that black people have to live with their reality every day. Right. So, whether it's getting from home to work alive, right? Praying that you don't get pulled over by the police for a small infraction, Sandra Bland. Um, whether it's being on the job and not being microaggressed, microaggressed upon or against. Whether it's being treated differently or being excluded because you don't match the culture of your company. Whether it's ignoring the 87 percent of white men who get most of the funding for tech companies while you prosecute black women, sue, sue, prosecute is not the word I wanted, but sue black women like those of the fearless fund who are giving out twenty thousand dollars. Occasionally to black women to help them stay in the game, to get in the game. Right. Um, that is not paranoia. It's not conspiracy. The numbers of, uh, people who are incarcerated relative to our, uh, the number of us who are, uh, who relative to the number that we, uh, represent in society, it's called proportion, um, it's disproportionate, um, The lack of representation is so many of these different spaces, uh, relative to the fact that we are the most educated group, especially black women, um, in particular are the most educated group. That is factual. It's, it's real data. So yeah, we may be a little bit distracted. Um, we may, uh, be focused on making sure that we are getting our fair, a fair shake. Um, when we rarely do, uh, you know, You know, we're four times as likely to go to jail for the same crime as a white person. I mean, that's just, that's a fact. Like, it's, it's statistically proven over and over again. That number is not changing. Um, and if you talk about black women in terms of incarceration rates, they're, they're, they're, they're higher. Significantly higher and usually, um, attached to some type of violence from a man, right? So it could be self defense or something of that matter. Um, so even a lack of resources or help. I mean, just recently, this is not the same as a false equivalency. So I'm not trying to equate, uh, domestic violence with my laptop getting stolen at the airport. But what I'm saying is, um, I really feel That, uh, and this is feel, right? So this is the conspiracy piece. Cause it's like, we're supposed to not go with our gut. We're not supposed to know what's happening at the time, but how this officer who actually was a Brown man, his last name was D S D I A S came over and talked to me the way I would not talk to my dog and I was the victim. My laptop was stolen out of Atlanta Hartsfield. Um, but having said that, even the way in which I was treated. Um, the way in which people did not care about my, my personal property being stolen, the way I was talked to as if I was uneducated or as if I was the problem, I never raised my voice. These are things that we just deal with all the time. This is harder being black and brown. That's what it is. It's, you know, paying 150 for a private car when you go somewhere, you know, go out of town on business and then having the driver microaggress against you the whole time, the whole way and then you have to decide, am I going to raise a stink about this? What am I going to do about this? I guess I'm just gonna have to take it because I know if I call the police, I'll be the villain or I can just go on about my day. And I just chose to go on about my day. Cause I was there for my family and my business, um, and not for this fool. But my point is I'm just. Appalled that, um, people are actually conducting surveys and especially Pew, because they really do really good surveys. Like, they give you information. You really want and you need and it's very good. And it's legitimate. They have social sciences and people who really understand doing this work. But to have that type of. Study just really rubs me the wrong way, but that is emotional. What is factual is that the things that black people talk about, and this is systemic racism. Um, you know, if you want, if you're a woman, sexism, uh, if you're gay, you know, LGBTQ, all of those issues that we have, um, classism, elitism, all the things that we have to face, um, in the world. It's not made up. This is a collective experience. It is, um, Something that we experience, we observe it. That's called empirical data. Uh, we experience ourselves as experiential data. Um, you can, uh, do studies, um, such as PEW. Uh, we can do quantitative analysis. You can do focus groups. That's qualitative analysis. Any type of study that has ever been done. Supports the fact that black people are discriminated against in the United States, regardless of whether they are qualified, regardless of whether they are middle class or upwardly mobile, regardless of whether they are corporate America, self employed, that it's just part of our existence. So I would like for people to, what I want, what I need you to know is there's a reason, um, why sometimes when you encounter black folks, um, you are met with suspicion, um, because we. Are often stigmatized, villainized, and dehumanized. Like that is the status quo. That's the everyday for us. That's not a exception, especially black Americans. You know, that is our every day. So, and it doesn't matter. I have four degrees. I'm an Ivy leaguer, all the things. It doesn't matter. You can, you can live in the right neighborhood. You can send your kids to the right school. It doesn't matter. You're still going every day. You know, um, my mother always says that every day someone will remind you that you're black. So you might as well be black. And that is true. Every day, somebody says something or does something that reminds you that you are different, um, and that you are less than. So, you gotta have a strong constitution. You know, we get that. We gotta be, you know, you've heard it twice. We gotta work twice as hard to get half the part, you know, half as far. All the things, you know. Um, but sometimes we don't. Sometimes we get angry and sometimes we give up. And sometimes we let, you know, people get to us. Cause we're not perfect. We are human beings. I know people don't think we're human beings, right? That's one of the ways that you enslave people. You say they don't have any souls, right? So that's how you get to the enslavement. You're like, how does someone do that? When you dehumanize people, that's what happens, but we do. And this is not everyone. Of course, we have very varied experiences. Um, and we, uh, you know, we love people who are of different races or other races. We love people, uh, marry, partner, build businesses, all the things. So it's not always the case, but most of the time this is happening. Um, even to those people. Um, you know, if you want to hear about some crazy discrimination, talk to a mixed race couple in 2024, in 2024. And, uh, they'll tell you, they'll tell you what they're experiencing. Um, so anyway, my point is, and I want to end here. Um, is that when it comes to black Americans, I would just encourage you, whether it's the workplace, whether it's your place of worship, whether it's in your household to start with empathy, um, and to lead with empathy, um, and to understand that one way of being supportive is to not dismiss people's experiences. Um, another way of being supportive is to not, um, come in with your own experience. It's just to listen, you know, is to listen and to see. And then another thing, which I think people did do, wasn't just black folks who spoke up, um, and out to the Pew, um, Institute. When you see something wrong, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't look right. Um, how it's presented is just disrespectful at best and dehumanizing at worst. Say something. You know, don't wait till after the meeting is over. This always happens to me. Don't wait till after the meeting is over to say something. Don't wait till after I've left. I'm at some, uh, some other institution or, or whatever. I'm at some other meeting or whatever. And then say something. Say something in that moment. Um, be an ally for real. And we'll talk about that too. How to be an ally, how to be a great ally. We'll talk about that. So anyway, this is need to know with Dr. Nsenga. I will see you next week.

A black executive perspective.