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 afternoon and welcome to Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton.

I am Dr. Nsenga Burton. Today I want to talk about manners and not manners in the respectability politics sort of way or the Emily Post sort of way, um, even though those kinds of manners are important, I guess, in some spaces. But when we think about business and we think about the ways in which we treat other people, Who are doing business with us, we have to really be mindful of that, particularly in the media space. Right? So, um, some of you may have seen a video, um, circulating of the great and award winning. Uh, I was, I call him a philosopher Ta-Nehisi Coates, um, uh, and his latest book, """The Message""", and there's a video of him speaking. You know, there are lots of videos out of him having, you know, like fantastic interviews with people, but there's a particular interview with him, um, gentleman, um, Tony, whose last name escapes me, but who's on CBS mornings. Um, and he is. Basically, being, I would say her reigned, you know, uh, by Tony, um, for a portion of the book, um, that he wrote, which is called ""The Message"", um, for his views on Israel, which are what we call empirical data. That's data by observation. So it's what he witnessed. About Israel while he was there spending time there. Right? And so Tony went in on him for lack of a better. It's just like, you know, held his feet to the fire in a very specific way, which I think would have been appropriate as a journalist for a different type of programming. Let's say, if it was for 60 minutes, or if it was for a type of. You know, ABC News special investigation. So Tony, uh, went in on, uh, Mr. Coates. And let them have it, which is not unusual for a journalist, but it is unusual for a morning show. Right? Morning shows. We wake up, we get, you know, our headlines that you get, you know, things you should buy, you know, so there's a lot of cross promotion of things who's starring in this movie, this wonderful person, like Adrian Alvarado wrote this wonderful memoir about growing up in Jersey City. Yeah, you get those kinds of, um, um, Books, obviously, you get the kind of lighthearted approach to life. And that's why it's morning news, right? Morning news is supposed to be upbeat and uplifting. Then there are other types of hard news, what we call hard news, and typically an interview of that type, if you're going to conduct it in that way, as a journalist would have happened on a 60 minutes, it would have happened on a news program. It would have happened on a special type of, um, Program that was really about delving into this book or this particular topic and the person might have been invited on and would have known in advance that that's what was happening. Not to say that he didn't know in advance that that was going to happen because he was very well prepared in his response. So, in the same way that I'm talking about minding your manners. My next video is going to be talking about not burning down the house when you could, because he could have that means coats could have burned down the house based on how he was being treated. I understand, um, why the video is circulating because it is so out of pocket in terms of morning news. It is. It absolutely is. You would never see that in morning news. You know, I would say, please show me 5 examples of that type of interview being done in that way on a morning news show on ABC, CBS or NBC. And I promise you, you'd be hard pressed to see it. So when I talk about manners and business, that is what I'm talking about. You don't invite people to your house and then mistreat them. That is just a basic tenant. You know, that's how most of us. I'm sure we're raised. You don't invite people over and then talk about them to their face. You know, as black and brown people, we don't invite anybody over that. We don't like to the house. So, you know, that analogy doesn't really apply here because, you know, Ta-Nehisi Coates is conducting business. He's trying to get his book out. He's trying to talk about his book, things of that nature, but you don't invite people over and then. Either burn down a house, um, or mistreat them and you certainly don't do it, particularly in a space where that is not traditionally done. So, we think about business and what I was watching this, um, because I watch all of the morning shows, um, I just switch between them or what have you but when I was watching this segment, um, because I had missed this and someone sent it to me and I. 3 times, like. Is this is this a, I mean, that's how unbelievable it was. Like, it's somebody over here playing because I'm sure this did not happen. Well, it did happen. Um, you know, he was invited onto this show and then he was berated his work was undermined. Um, and he was, um. Mistreated, like, in a very, I would say, hostile manner and then allowed to do. So no 1 intervened. Not that anybody needed to intervene because he's a grown man and he's, you know, he wrote this book and he was able to, you know, to justify what he was saying in a very sophisticated and calm manner, but, um. I just want people to be mindful of how they treat people when they invite them into their spaces, you know, businesses, workplaces are not necessarily homes. They are not, but they are places where you have to share space with other people. There are places where you have to bring certain types of energy. You know, morning news is rife with all kinds of, um, innuendo and challenges that have resulted in the. Firing of certain people. So we, we know it's not a, a safe space per se, in terms of the me too movement, but we do need to understand that when someone is used to a type of culture and when they get to watch other people being treated exceptionally well, I mean, like, literally, you will see Gail and Tony and Nate bending over backwards to be a nice and decent to people who really honestly don't deserve it. But to see Ta-Nehisi Coates, who I don't always agree with, by the way, you know, I think it's a fantastic writer. When I read his writing, it makes me think more. It also makes me want to be a better writer, but I don't always agree with him. I haven't read the books. I don't have anything to say about the book, but when you invite somebody to your home, and that includes your workplace home, then you should treat them with respect. You should allow them to answer a question, and you should move on. You also need to do that. Out of respect for your viewers, because I didn't learn anything about the book because, uh, Tony just. You know, would not give up on this particular point. Um, I guess it was an answer to a satisfaction, but I think he could have moved on because not be an answer to satisfaction is actually response. We've been watching the debates now. It is allowed in certain areas. It's not allowed in this area. So I just wanted to say that, um, you know, we don't have to be. Involved in respectability politics, you can actually feel very passionate about an idea or what have you and, um, you can, you know, ask people tough questions anytime, especially when you're a journalist, but you do have to take into account what the expectations are of the workplace, which you have done previously with other guests and what the expectations are of viewers. All of your viewers. All of your viewers, uh, when you are addressing information that may be controversial or difficult to talk about. Um, and most people, honestly, in this country don't understand because we don't know anything about the Middle East quite honestly. We don't know anything except what people are telling us on tick tock. So, um, I just want to say that when you invite people into your home in your workplace, make sure that you treat them well. Regardless of whether or not you agree with everything they say, if it gets to a point where you can't agree with them, you can't abide by their behavior. You can always ask them to leave. But people have have the right, especially in the media space, especially when it's morning television. I'm sure Tony. He's his coach's publicist is like, what is happening? You know, you do, you should be able to go on and talk about your books, your work, your content, even if it's controversial, because that's most of the time while you're being invited on and not be mistreated in the process, not be. Uh, not be bullied, um, not be undermined, not be berated. And all of that happened in this interview, um, because your views. Are opposed the views of someone who is a journalist and quite frankly, journalists are trained actually to not do that. We are supposed to just ask the questions and let you listen to them. And then we ask follow up questions, not, uh, be rate. And, um, beat you up, you know, for lack of a better term, uh, because the answers that you've given or what you put in your book don't align with what you think what the journalist thinks. Um, so we need to really think about this whole idea of objectivity and if we even want to claim to have that in journalism. Because I think people are capable of reading and making their own decisions and deductions from all books, whether it's Ta-Nehisi Coates books, whether it's Adrian Alvarez's book, or whether it's one of my books. Um, so that's all. I just wanna make sure that we treat people with kindness and respect. And when we think about it, especially those of us who are members of disenfranchised groups, historically disenfranchised groups, historically disempowered groups, historically, um, members of groups that have just. Had eliminate have been on elimination lists. You know, that all of us are in project 2025, which is what I was thinking when I'm watching this, um, and not in a good way. We are the people who are being eliminated. We're on that list, um, that we should be thankful, uh, be more thoughtful, um, and kind to each other, even when we disagree with one another, um, and hold space for us to have differing opinions, without burning down the house, which is my next. Uh, video. All right. So without further ado, I wish you a wonderful day. Tune in next week to a black executive perspective podcast and learn much more about the workplace and what we can do to make it a better, more welcoming and happier space for black and brown folks in general, and all people specifically,

a black executive perspective.