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. I am Dr. Nsenga Burton, happy to see you again. I know it's been a little while and happy to be back to talk about some important topics. One of which I think you need to know is to consider your audience. Unless you've been living under a rock, um, yesterday, the world, if you did not know before what the National Association of Black Journalists is, you now know it is the largest organization of black journalists In the world, and they have an annual convention each year, and it moves across cities this year. In this particular year, they were in Chicago during election years. They typically invite those who are running for the highest office in the land to participate in a question answer period with members questions usually come from the membership, the moderators, or what have you. Of course, this year, it poses a conundrum for the executive board, the national executive board, because of who is running on the Republican ticket, which is Donald Trump, our nation's former president, who is, uh, to put it mildly, a de facto, Uh, racist, uh, definitely anti black has engaged in anti black racist activities over the course of his entire, um, over the course of his entire career and, um, in his last, uh, presidency was unkind, uh, not only, um, in his policies, but also in his words towards women. In general and black women specifically. So it was ironic that he would be invited to speak to the NABJ, especially since some of those women were journalists who are members of NABJ. So the membership was split on what should happen. I think the majority of membership was like, he should not be invited, but I think because of, because of tradition, right, Bush has been there. Clinton has been there. I mean, Hillary Clinton has been there. Uh, and other folks, um, Joe Biden has been there before, uh, that it seemed like they should invite him in terms of what is correct. Also, if you think about it, black journalists do deserve to have the opportunity to interview all U. S. presidential candidates, because these black journalists are the people who speak to the American people. Broad audiences, not just black folks, but they definitely have an ear with black folks. Right? So it makes sense that he would be invited that they should have the same opportunities that other journalists have. Um, and that would be journalists of color and, uh, white journalists, um, as well, uh, to interview the president. So I think they aired on the side of, um, Fairness when they may have wanted to consider culture and protection a little bit more because if it did not go well, even being fair right when we're being fair to others who may not necessarily been fair to us, it can backfire and it has definitely backfired. One of the things I wanted to talk to you about today is one of the weights that people of color have to carry, particularly when they represent organizations that are tied to their identity. is when you have to engage with someone who is not a supporter. That's probably what I should say about Donald Trump. His policies do not support people of color. His interests are not similar to most people of color who, um, who, uh, participate in polls, who participate in the voting process and things of that nature, um, and who are members of each of the parties, in fact. So it was a gamble. To be fair or to extend kindness, empathy, and fairness to someone who did not extend that to your community, because as you know, it just went to hell in a handbasket, um, with, you know, the president insulting the current vice president, who's now running for president, Kamala Harris, her identity, um, telling her she just, Turned black last year or something. I can't remember what he said, but basically, you know, a woman who grew up in Oakland with a Jamaican father and went to Howard University, uh, somehow it's not black. I mean, I don't know, you know, just turned black. Um, and then, you know, she's been Indian, just really rewriting her history. Uh, one of the reasons that they invited him was for fairness, but you can't really think about. Fairness to him when you know that he's not going to be fair to others. Right. And so when you're thinking about your organizations that are tied to identity, particularly in this, in this climate, when they are under attack, the thing you need to know is to put your organization 1st and with journalists, you know, we're sworn to be neutral. Um, we commit to, um, not telling how we vote. We commit to, um, you know, being nonpartisan, not bipartisan, nonpartisan. All these things, these ideals that we aspire to. Uh, but we are living in a very specific, uh, and type of precarious age where now journalists have to do, and they've done it before, I shouldn't say now, but they've done it before where it is, is now paramount that you are protective of your organizations and your publications. And what happened with Donald Trump. Yesterday, uh, the presumptive Republican nominee, the Republican nominee, what happened with Donald Trump yesterday is indicative of why you have to choose protection over fairness in some ways. I know, uh, the president, you know, Ken Lemon. He's an amazing person. Fantastic guy. Wonderful journalist. Um, I wasn't in the rooms. I don't know what the decision making was. I don't know what the external and internal pressures were. I don't know. I don't know why they only had, um, um, you know, that group of journalists. Interviewing him. I don't know why they didn't have other political journalists interviewing him. I don't know how they decided who would do it. I don't know how they decided why they did it. All I know is the outcome, right? So the intention, although it was probably good, right? Black journalists deserve the opportunity to hear from the Republican nominee for the U. S. Presidency. The result was terrible because Donald Trump did what he typically does, which was malign, be mean to the journalists, talk poorly to the journalists, talk poorly about the organization. I mean, even he talked about them keeping him waiting for 25 minutes while they were, you know, doing some security things, which, you know, for someone who Survived his assassination attempt to not want to wait 25 minutes is telling of his personality. Um, but also the fact that he doesn't know that he may have to wait 25 minutes. I mean, I could be going off the rails here, but if you're dealing with black folks. And not to be stereotypical, but if you're dealing with black folks, you're dealing with brown folks, I'm talking about globally, not just in the United States. It's going to be a wait time. It's going to probably be a little bit of a wait time. I, I throw the Asians in there too, especially China. You had to wait a little bit. You got to wait a little bit, right? Um, there might be a little 15 minute window or so. I'll just say that. Um, but all jokes aside, um, Donald Trump should, um, have been given the opportunity, uh, to speak to the black press and the black press should have been given the opportunity to hear from him in a perfect world. But the way that it played out, it shows you the challenges that face you. If you make those decisions, when you really invite firebrands into your space, you know, it's not that he has ever, at least in recent years, done or said anything that added value to the conversation. He's already been labeled as a liar, pathological liar, you know, there, uh, we have fact checking live fact checking now because of his first presidency. We didn't have that prior to his first presidency. We now have it because of his first presidency. Um, you know, in terms of even fact checking his, you know, really lies about Kamala Harris's identity and her how she grew up. Um, And so when you are dealing with someone like that, has all these problems with the law, um, has acts out in the courtroom, doesn't really, it's not known for having decorum, let's just say that, not known for having basic decorum, then it's, it's probably not a good idea to invite him in, you know, you need him in a controlled environment, maybe via Zoom. Where he could have been, you know, the microphone could be turned off. Um, if he was going off the rails, uh, maybe they could have presented questions, you know, taken from. Uh, the audience and given to him and give him a, an opportunity to make a written response. Something else should have happened because what happened was not good. What also was not good was that the, um, the. We hoping the presumptive nominee, uh, Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris was unable to make it and she was unable to make it because of prior commitments, of course, the passing of an iconic senators funeral, who's also her friend, um, and her soul or, um, Sheila Jackson, Lee, um, also the, um, her present previous, uh, previous Presentations to various groups, including the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority. Um, she had other commitments that she had already agreed to prior to being asked to appear here. And as you know, this kind of came out of left field, right? This was, um, not something that was planned. So, um, she was unable to be there in person, but volunteered to be there via zoom to appear however, however way they wanted. And that did not work. Now in ABJ's defense. Okay. They typically, if you cannot come in person, then you cannot appear at the national convention. That is the rule. The only time they had the exception to the rule was during COVID. But again, in this bid to appear to be fair, right, um, and to have the same rules apply across the board, they discounted and basically dismissed the person That the black journalist also need to hear from, um, and then apparently if, if according to Roland Martin, um, you know, tried to go back and get her after they declined to have her because she would not appear in person. So, it was to say it was a cluster is an understatement. I will say I'm surprised I go to this conference almost every year. I'll say that very often. I was just there last year. That is accurate. I did not go this year because I had a prior commitment. I would have gone had I not had the prior commitment, but I am shocked at how poorly handled this situation was because they're just too many brilliant people in the room. Too many kind and decent people in the room for this to happen. So, What you need to know is when you're thinking of your brand, particularly when it's tied to an identity, particularly an identity that is under attack and is under extreme scrutiny. People are always watching people of color in general, black people specifically. Um, you have to make decisions that are going to be in the best interest of your membership. And when your membership told you they did not want you and gave you very good reasons for it, then sometimes you have to break with tradition. When your membership tells you they want to hear from Kamala Harris, who can't appear in person because of a conflict, then you should listen to your membership because ultimately, that's how you pay your bills. Ultimately. That's what who you're here to serve. And sometimes you cannot, um, unfortunately, extend the same courtesies to the same people to the same people in positions, particularly in this precarious time, you have to preserve the decency. Um, the legend, because NABJ is a legendary organization filled with amazing people who've done extraordinary things under extraordinary circumstances. Um, you have to preserve that legacy, um, instead of eroding it, um, by. Extending, you know, uh, extending gratitude, extending kindness to someone who's not extended it to this community. So that's all I got, you know, need to know protect your neck. I had to go back to hip hop, you know, sorry, protect your neck. Um, we don't always have to take the high road. I know I just want black people. Just hear me out black and brown people. Look me in the eye right here. We do not always have to go high when they go low. That is not our burden to bear. We do not have to be the moral, we don't have to be the moral compass of this country anymore. There are plenty of other groups that were here. Uh, uh, that, that can do it. We don't have to always take the high road. We don't always have to extend gratitude and grace. We don't always have to turn the other cheek. And I'm not talking about physically, obviously I'm talking about intellectually, I'm talking about spiritually, um, in certain ways. We don't always have to do that. Um, so keep that in mind. That's the need to know as well. The time has come. For us to protect our own and we have to do it when we're dealing with, you know, what could be, you know, and some I've described as a, a fascist leader who's on, who's this close to the U. S. presidency, if that is true, you know, um, if that is not true, you know, that's a worst case scenario, best case scenario, someone who has no respect, none, like zero for women or people of color, and you have him being interviewed by women Who are people of color. So think about what you're doing. All right. So this is my need to know with Dr. Nsenga Burton. Tune in next week to the Black Executive Podcast where you will learn more about what you need to know. Have a wonderful day. Stay focused. Stay thoughtful and definitely stay black.

A Black Executive Perspective.