quantum leap

Due to a succession of high-profile police involved shootings over the past decade, culminating with the videotaped murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, there has been a heightened consciousness around racism in America, and how it manifests in today’s society. The desire for more context was intensified with the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, the recent murder of Black shoppers in Buffalo, NY, among others, resulting in what has been described as a “racial reckoning”.

In addition, a pandemic overtook the nation, and the world, with over 1 million deaths in the U.S., disproportionately impacting Black and indigenous people of color (BIPOC) with infections, hospitalizations and mortality. I have described this as our “National Katrina,” as we should have known that congested households and facilities (e.g., shelters, prisons), poverty, health inequities, food and housing insecurity and certain professions with high concentrations of African Americans and Latinos/Hispanics would be unmasked in a public health emergency.

The perfect storm of the two has caused us to reflect on inequities in the criminal justice system, housing, education, health care, the environment and economic opportunity. In classrooms, boardrooms and homes, Americans are now discussing concepts like implicit bias and white supremacy. Many are choosing to meet the moment by creating or strengthening their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and activities, and prioritizing racial equity in their corporate contributions and grant strategy. However, the key challenge to our deciding if this is just a moment or a movement will be whether we can connect the dots between these inequities and racial injustices in our society with our past.

In January 2020, I created a presentation entitled “Quantum Leap” (QL) to provide audiences with a walk through of Anti-Black Racism in America – from 1619 to 2020 (now 2023) with the goal of connecting those dots. Named after Quantum Leap, the 1980s/90s television show where Dr. Sam Beckett travels through time, leaping into the bodies of different people under various circumstances to “put right what once went wrong,” I ask audiences to travel through time with me. In this 1 to 2-hour presentation, audiences meet Frederick Douglass as he engaged Abraham Lincoln to end slavery and allow Black soldiers to fight in the Union Army, leap into the place of the nation’s first African American U.S. Senator Hiram Revel in 1870, sit through D.W. Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation, stand with Black vets as they returned from World War I or II to defend their communities and get equal access to the GI Bill, and attend school with the Little Rock Nine. They’ll be introduced along the way to Dr. J. Marion Sims, Black Codes, redlining, restrictive covenants and the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Today, this presentation is now over 300 slides, but I select topics to accommodate the focus of the hosting organization. If health care, there is more of an intense focus on the taint of race in our health care system. If a finance organization, I cover the origins of the wealth gap and economic injustices. Everyone gets some foundational perspective on anti-Black racism and its many manifestations in society.

I hope to join you soon…

Black vets as they returned from WWI