What can I contribute to the discussion? I don’t know. I don’t have any answers, except that this fight for equity and inclusion and social justice will likely not make any real headway in my lifetime. Who knows if the white folks will ever let go of their stranglehold on everything? They control it all right now. We have been thrown but a few crumbs here and there, but they eventually get back whatever they’ve loaned out. It’s not a conscious thing, you know. It’s embedded in their dna, to control, to critique, to allow, to discipline, to judge, to keep. They do the writing, they do the publishing, they do the teaching, they do the leading, they control the money, they control the gates. They control the conversation and they control the plan. Those of us who are trying to take some of their power away know they are shady and sly and that they will not give anything up willingly. Watch your backs, my brothers and sisters, for the ways of these people are sneaky and devilish and they are probably ten steps ahead of you in this game of power and control. You will need to master their ways. You will need to be better writers, better speakers, better managers, better leaders, better thinkers and better strategists before any progress is made. They are not going to let up on their control of all the standards. They define excellence. They define success. They define the conversation and if you challenge it, beware. Watch your backs, my brothers and sisters. Be your best, learn, grow, challenge yourselves, be better at their game than they are. Be smarter, be quicker, be more agile and be prepared at all times. Toughen up. Don’t back down. Toughen up. Don’t be hurt by mere words. Don’t be misled by empty promises. Don’t be delusioned into thinking they’re on your side. They are not. They know they have control and they will not willingly ever let it go. Create your own institutions. Create your own standards of excellence. Write your own books. Publish yourselves. Tell your own stories. Celebrate your own successes. You don’t need them. You don’t have to ever grovel before them. They are nothing if you are everything. Teach your own children. Don’t let your children near them. They will corrupt them. They will destroy them. They will put them in jail and they will never, ever take the blame. They have their guns and they have their cops and their laws. Beat them at their own game, my friends. Be better at it than they are and then go and create your own world. You don’t need violence or drugs or alcohol or television. You need eachother. You need your elders and your children and you need to keep on pushing and never ever, ever give up.