
One day Albert Einstein gave a test to one of his classes.
As he walked out of the class, his assistant asked him, “Dr. Einstein wasn’t this the same test you gave last year”?
“Yes” the good doctor responded.
“Why did you give the same test two years in a row”?
The assistant asked.
The good doctor replied, “The answers have changed”.
Following the George Floyd murder, there continue to be global demonstrations demanding justice and racial equality.
While demonstrations and a display of outrage at such criminal abhorrence is understandable, the reality is, it’s not going to make a difference.
This is because the answers have changed.
The tactics used in the fight for racial justice during slavery were escape and sabotage.
The tactics used during Civil Right Movements were demonstrations and civil disobedience.
And now in the fight for racial equality, we are using demonstration and civil disobedience.
They are not going to work.
Those tactics are not going to work in our present situation because the answers have changed.
What we need now is influence.
You gain influence by getting a seat at the table.
And you can’t get a seat at the table by demand.
You get a seat at the table by performance.
A blackman did not become the most powerful person in the world by demand. It was done by performance.
Opera Winfrey did not become the most powerful woman in the world because black people demonstrated. It was done by performance.
The LGBTQ communities did not get a seat at the table by demonstration.
No.
They bought their way to the centre of power.
Environmentalists were once hugging trees and demonstrating about the environment with little to show for their efforts.
Then, they changed tact and bought seats in boardrooms of multinational corporations.
With their seats at the table, they were able to place the environment at the top of governments agendas.
Last year, there was the massive global environmental demonstrations.
What came out of them?
Empty pledges.
Given the gravity of the situation, I hate to be the bearer of bad news.
But the reality is, no amount of demonstration is going to bring about racial justice.
What we need is, a seat at the table.
If you don’t believe me, see the response of the British government.
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