Reimagining Black Relations

Licy Do Canto, Managing Director for the Washington, DC headquarters of APCO Worldwide. Licy discussed his personal and professional journey to drive change and lift up disadvantaged communities in the U.S. and abroad. A son of Cape Verdean immigrants, raised in Greater Boston, has made diversity, equity, and inclusion his life journey companions. From APCO’s racial equity initiative, “Accelerate What’s Right,” to his perspective on the important difference between equality and equity, Licy shared his deeply personal experiences and beliefs that support his mission to being a catalyst for change both within and outside of APCO.

"It has really shaped who I am today. And growing up, I walked in this two worlds - one that is the culture and history of my parents and my ancestors, and the other of course is here in the U.S. And both have provided both a rewarding and  ...." - Licy Do Canto

MJ Fievre, an Haitian writer, author, and publisher who currently resides in the United States, shared the Black experience in Haiti and her objections to anti-whiteness. She emphasized the need for community introspection, communal dialogue without passion, and the social and personal responsibilities of Black people.

"The Black experience in Haiti has a lot to do with colorism. So it's the idea that if you're lighter skinned, you are more beautiful, you are probably more educated, or you have more money. Which used to be true in not so very distant past because when you think about the ramifications of slavery and occupation, even in the United States, people who were considered mixed - maybe the colonizer was one of the parent..." - MJ Fievre

Caroline Manyapye, a South African executive based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, juxtaposed the benefits of colonization with the innate abilities and excellence of Black people, while she shared her personal stories layered with pain and resilience.

"I've got this view and this perception, that we are the most oppressed, simply because we are so powerful and simply because they  know our power. They know our power even if sometimes we don't see our power, they see it and they know it. Why would you just oppress something that you are not threatened by? - Caroline Manyapye

Daniel L. Hollar, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Chair of the Department of Behavioral and Social Science at Bethune-Cookman University and CEO of Daninger Solutions Inc., expounded on the impact of adopting main stream values while rejecting indigenous cultural values. He proffered solutions that can protect citizens from negative images of dominant cultures. He touched on various topics including traumas in the Black communities, benefits of building culturally competent officers, and the need to address mental health and suicides in the community. For immediate help, call 800-273-TALK (2755). Dr. Hollar can be reached at [email protected] 

"Racism, white supremacy is a criminal enterprise that's organized against Black people. And that kind of surmises it. So, no matter where you go in the world, the system is the dominant system that we are all operating under currently" - Daniel L. Hollar, Ph.D.

Babatunde Ogunnaike, Ph.D., an award winning American Chemical Engineer of Nigerian descent, currently the William L. Friend Chaired Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bio-molecular Engineering at the University of Delaware, spoke on the intersectionality of engineering-sociology-humanity-and cultural anthropology. He affirmed the true story of one woman and the automobile airbag was not a box to be checked, just as the Black race are humans of significant worth.

"Not having women in engineering, not having Black people in engineering, literally it's like going through life with one eye closed. And I typically tell people sitting in the audience - I tell them to close one eye and look at the world and tell me what the world looks like to you. You lose depth of perception. And so when half of your team is sitting on the side lines, and you are only playing with five people on the field..." - Prof. Babatunde Ogunnaike

Darryl Mobley, prior corporate executive of Procter and Gamble, the world #1 Coach, and the CEO of Catapult Leaders spoke as a father, a husband, and a professional. He shared his reasons why he considers negativity as a drug, the reason why people want you to hate yourself, what you can do to change, and why fighting may not be bad.

"And I am resolute about this stuff. I don't care about your politics. I don't care about what you call yourself. I don't care about the party you belong to - it's a bunch of crap. What matters is what you do, because it was easy back then, and anybody who went into history can look and say "about when was that time period" Daryl? Who was running that era? Who were the judges? Who were the mayors? Who were the people punishing this kids, and giving kids - a kid might steal a pack of gum and get a year in a Black juvenile home. For a similar crime, a white kid will get a probation" - Darryl Mobley

Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, Ph.D., Senior Associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Fellow with the Caribbean Policy Consortium, both in Washington, DC, provides vignettes on the end-to-end process of the drug business, which includes production, trans-shipment, consumption, and money laundering. He elaborated on the impact in the Black community, why "just say no" did not work, and why "the war on drugs" was unhelpful. The recommendations of this two-time university president and author of several books based on 3 F's--Faith, Family, and Friends--are profound.

"In an effort to control drug sale, possession, and use in New York city, they began to confiscate vehicles of people found with drugs. The first four months of confiscation, most of the vehicles confiscated for people using drugs were not from New York city. They were the rich white kids from New Jersey who were driving into the Black communities to purchase the drugs. So you've got to ask the question "is what you are seeing in the Black community of the Black community"? - Prof. Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith

Anna Ekeledo, Executive Director of AfriLabs Foundation and Working Party Chair of eCommerce Forum Africa, spoke from Lagos in Nigeria. The Nigerian-Senegalese expounded on the excitement and the reality of being a Black youth on the continent. She highlighted the uniqueness of the environment, the people, culture, and solution adaptation, while identifying the most appropriate stakeholders to define and solve the Black problems. (Since the recording of the podcast, Anna has joined a Nigerian political party, the Youth Party).

"I know that there is still that savior mentality that says Black people haven't figured it out, we don't know what to do, we don't know how to do it. So we need to come and be supported. While I recognize that there are a lot of challenges that we still face around healthcare for example, or the education sector, and all of this, our infrastructures are not there yet, people are still financially excluded and don't have access to clean and affordable energy, yes, all those challenges are there but then that mentality of Black people can't figure it out and we need to come and help them because they can't think by themselves is not ...." - Anna Ekeledo

Scott Law, a trusted colleague and friend of mine, shared his thoughts and fears about the current generation, and his hope and aspirations for the next, while discussing the inherent need for all people to value each other and coexist equitably as one human family.

"We never thought about things in that way, and I wasn't raised to think about things in that way. We learn about people, we didn't learn about or be taught that there was this difference between a Hispanic person and a Black person, the Chinese person and so on. It was really about whether the person was good or they weren't. You get to the core of who you are and get rid of all this superfluous details that at the end of the day, shouldn't matter" - Scott Law

Dr. Norman Munroe, a U.S State department Fulbright Scholar and a full professor at Florida International University in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering department. Dr. Munroe described how he was re-educated as a Guyanese-American Black man in Tanzania. He spoke about his visit to one of the wonders of the world, his Christmas experience at Mount Kilimanjaro, his face to face meeting with President Julius Nyeyere, and his escapade in Uganda a week before Idi Amin's coup.

"I was able to appreciate Black beauty because you know, coming from a British colony, we were kind of brainwashed into Eurocentric mindset of what beauty looks like. That's why I said I was very glad I went to Africa first because I learnt to appreciate blackness and to admire it, and respect it, and love it, and to embrace the culture, to learn the language..."  Dr. Norman Munroe