WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.430 I was a principal and Bay was a summer intern, 2 00:00:02.430 --> 00:00:04.497 and he comes into my office and he says, 3 00:00:04.497 --> 00:00:06.990 "I want to talk about all these things, like how I make 4 00:00:06.990 --> 00:00:09.177 "my slides and my analysis." And then he said, 5 00:00:09.177 --> 00:00:11.411 "I also want to talk to you about racism." 6 00:00:11.411 --> 00:00:14.060 And I said, "Oh, that's interesting." 7 00:00:14.060 --> 00:00:15.520 And Bay proceeded to open up 8 00:00:15.520 --> 00:00:17.380 a conversation with me that 9 00:00:17.380 --> 00:00:20.520 was analytical and thoughtful and 10 00:00:20.520 --> 00:00:22.530 personal about his life 11 00:00:22.530 --> 00:00:25.040 and his thoughts and what he's committed to. 12 00:00:25.040 --> 00:00:28.725 And it struck me as different for 13 00:00:28.725 --> 00:00:33.450 a white person to raise the topic and to 14 00:00:33.450 --> 00:00:35.270 have such fluidity and clarity and 15 00:00:35.270 --> 00:00:36.960 confidence in that conversation. 16 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:38.200 Ellen was one of the people that 17 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:39.750 when I sort of said, "Hey, would you be 18 00:00:39.750 --> 00:00:41.040 "up for talking about this?" 19 00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:42.770 She said, "Yes." 20 00:00:42.770 --> 00:00:44.670 And then over the years, 21 00:00:44.670 --> 00:00:46.537 I kept picking up the phone, checking in, 22 00:00:46.537 --> 00:00:47.370 "How are you doing?" 23 00:00:47.370 --> 00:00:48.203 "Can we keep talking?" 24 00:00:48.203 --> 00:00:49.520 And she just kept saying "Yes." 25 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:51.290 And so it would just go, year after year. 26 00:00:51.290 --> 00:00:52.123 And she would introduce me to 27 00:00:52.123 --> 00:00:53.680 other people, and we would stay connected. 28 00:00:53.680 --> 00:00:55.070 And then when that 29 00:00:55.070 --> 00:00:56.760 opportunity to work came up, 30 00:00:56.760 --> 00:00:59.790 I was the one that said yes, because it was a no-brainer. 31 00:00:59.790 --> 00:01:02.330 So it's been a great journey, great coming together. 32 00:01:02.330 --> 00:01:05.510 And there's no doubt BCG was a huge part of it. 33 00:01:05.510 --> 00:01:07.780 What we do at the Groundwater Institute is something that I 34 00:01:07.780 --> 00:01:10.900 have wanted to do for a long time professionally. 35 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:11.870 And that is, 36 00:01:11.870 --> 00:01:16.170 what I call leveraging or harnessing the power of business, 37 00:01:16.170 --> 00:01:20.490 and the wisdom and the staying power of social movements, 38 00:01:20.490 --> 00:01:22.750 racial justice movements in particular, 39 00:01:22.750 --> 00:01:26.840 and bringing those things together so that we could really 40 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:29.900 move the ball forward in the country and in the world in 41 00:01:29.900 --> 00:01:31.740 terms of moving towards racial equity. 42 00:01:31.740 --> 00:01:33.952 What I think distinguishes us in this work 43 00:01:33.952 --> 00:01:38.580 is that we bring a framing and a lens 44 00:01:38.580 --> 00:01:41.270 for structural racism that helps 45 00:01:41.270 --> 00:01:46.187 leaders develop a more sophisticated 46 00:01:47.523 --> 00:01:52.523 analysis to respond to a problem that has a depth and a 47 00:01:52.710 --> 00:01:56.970 complexity to it that I think is easy for us to ignore. 48 00:01:56.970 --> 00:01:59.511 Our work is based on the idea that 49 00:01:59.511 --> 00:02:01.610 diagnosis determines treatment. 50 00:02:01.610 --> 00:02:04.930 And so we do spend time talking with people about what 51 00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:08.804 causes racial inequity, what causes gender inequity, 52 00:02:08.804 --> 00:02:12.160 what causes any kind of inequity that's not desired, 53 00:02:12.160 --> 00:02:15.350 because our view is if we're not aligned 54 00:02:15.350 --> 00:02:18.403 about what the underlying causes are, 55 00:02:18.403 --> 00:02:22.620 then even people who agree that inequity is a problem can 56 00:02:22.620 --> 00:02:24.320 end up working across purposes. 57 00:02:24.320 --> 00:02:27.550 We have had the tremendous opportunity to work with BCG 58 00:02:27.550 --> 00:02:30.460 recently on building leadership 59 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:34.640 and DEI racial equity work amongst BCG's senior leadership. 60 00:02:34.640 --> 00:02:38.260 And we continue to be inspired by the caliber of leadership, 61 00:02:38.260 --> 00:02:42.160 by the brainpower in BCG, and by the commitment of the folks 62 00:02:42.160 --> 00:02:45.110 that we've worked with. And it gives me hope in this work. 63 00:02:45.110 --> 00:02:46.230 I'm donating my prize to 64 00:02:46.230 --> 00:02:49.530 the Indigenous Resurgence Institute: Honor the Old Ways. 65 00:02:49.530 --> 00:02:51.720 The organization is just coming together, 66 00:02:51.720 --> 00:02:53.730 but building on a history of work 67 00:02:53.730 --> 00:02:56.360 that's going to include working with indigenous ceremonial 68 00:02:56.360 --> 00:03:00.450 elders and doing work that is important to them. 69 00:03:00.450 --> 00:03:01.875 But key projects are going to include 70 00:03:01.875 --> 00:03:03.703 the work of international repatriation, 71 00:03:03.703 --> 00:03:07.420 which is actually repatriating remains and sacred objects 72 00:03:07.420 --> 00:03:10.170 of people, things, 73 00:03:10.170 --> 00:03:13.100 and human remains that were literally stolen and 74 00:03:13.100 --> 00:03:15.730 exported all over the globe. 75 00:03:15.730 --> 00:03:17.750 And the work of international repatriation 76 00:03:17.750 --> 00:03:20.330 is actually about repatriating those things home. 77 00:03:20.330 --> 00:03:22.120 I'm donating my gift to 78 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:25.850 the Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative. 79 00:03:25.850 --> 00:03:27.910 The Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative 80 00:03:27.910 --> 00:03:32.820 is a group of committed community people, 81 00:03:32.820 --> 00:03:34.630 academic leaders, 82 00:03:34.630 --> 00:03:38.630 and medical professionals who have worked together for 83 00:03:38.630 --> 00:03:43.630 decades to study how racism operates in the health system 84 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:49.350 and to work to eliminate disparities in outcomes 85 00:03:49.350 --> 00:03:51.725 in cancer care rates and in outcomes for 86 00:03:51.725 --> 00:03:55.103 breast and lung cancer in Greensboro, North Carolina.