I’m back with some Friday inspiration and frustration. I discuss The One Club for Creativity’s annual conference. Also, here’s what you need to know about Trump’s executive order banning diversity training. Let’s get into it.

I meant to have this out earlier. I was having issues with my site. So, I didn’t intend to return with such a long and hard-hitting post, but here we are. I have a TOC to help ya out.

Table of Contents:
1. Where Are All the Black People?
   1.1 Keynote: Van Jones
   1.2 The Impact of BLM Movement on Marketing
   1.3 Morning Inspiration: Michelle Worsley-Ford
   1.4 We Made It Ourselves
   1.5 Morning Inspiration: Cheryl D. Holmes Miller
   1.6 Pass the Mic: Making Space for Black Women to Lead
2. Trump's executive order stops diversity training
   2.1 The Executive Order and Memos
   2.2 The Meat Of It

Let’s start with something happy, inspiring, and uplifting.

Where Are All the Black People? Conference

There was so much going on at this conference, so I really want to focus on the keynote, sessions, and panels. 

Keynote
Van Jones – REFORM Alliance

Van Jones was a great speaker who worked to uplift and encourage viewers to recognize and act upon their power. He urges marketers to change the narrative and shift the culture – because culture always wins.

Key Quotes
  • “I want to suggest that you are more helpful than you know. And that people, like myself, who are trying to make change happen, trying to pass bills, trying to pass laws, are powerless without you.”
  • “Representation can be tokenism. Authenticity matters everywhere. That’s the core of culture.”
  • [When working with white people] “Deal with the end in mind. What do we actually want in the end? Do we want pity or do we want partnership? …Partner authentically across difference. We want fair and equitable exchange and authentic partnerships… You win more. I win more.”

The Impact of BLM Movement on Marketing
moderator: Bennett Bennett – Aerialist
Chris Miller – Ben & Jerry’s
Amber Chenevert, Ph.D. – VMLY&R
André Branch – Esteé Lauder Companies
God-is Rivera – Twitter

This was a power-packed panel. There were representatives from brands and agencies on how to truly stand in solidarity. They spend time describing what their company has been doing for diversity and culture while also giving advice to creatives and marketers.

Key Quotes
  • “There is a lot of fatigue on empty words.” – God-is Rivera
  • “But, always, as a brand strategist, always telling our clients, ‘You have to go back to your values first and foremost. You have to be sure about what you believe in and really understand your customers and work towards closing those gaps because likely there are some.’” – Amber Chenevert
  • “We like to say we like to lean into controversy. Things have to be said. Ideas have to be promoted. Old ways of history need to be confronted. …We’re willing to take both the love and the pushback that goes with that. – Chris Miller
  • “So you think about the idea of resilience, like never stopping, never giving up, and I think that’s really important. It’s a trick that a lot of people, unfortunately, do not really have.” – André Branch

Morning Inspiration Day 2
Michelle Wonsley-Ford – Center for Racial Justice

Michelle Worsley-Ford speaks of her experience and how others can be anti-racist – companies, leadership, and people. She talks of how each group has different things to do within the context of dismantling racism and systems. She encourages everyone, especially leadership, to recognize, accept, and celebrate differences. 

Key Quotes
  • “Before we have any hope of taking effective and sustainable action, we have to realize we need shared codified language relative to what we’re contending with.”
  • “…every organization exists, first and foremost, as a system, containing actors who have arrived to the system with different mental minds.”
  • “So differently, we are each bringing our own identities lived experiences, values, and beliefs with us to whatever space we enter.”
  • “[Being anti-racist] is in the act of challenging inherently racist practices policies and personal behavior, of interrupting racism as it happens within ourselves, between people, and throughout our organizations.”

We Built it Ourselves
moderator: Nate Nichols – Palette Group
Elisha Greenwell – 72andSunny
Lincoln Stephens – Marcus Graham Project
Reonna Johnson – RPA

This panel focused on three black creatives who created organizations and movements to promote diversity, celebrate blackness, and protest racism. They spoke a lot about black joy and how organizations should encourage diversity. (Hint: it’s not one-dimensional. There’s a whole system including health, education, family dynamics, and more.) Also, Lincoln Stephens encourages diversity-promoting organizations to work together, rather than in silos. When it comes to brands, he also calls for acknowledgment, apology, amendment, and atonement.

Key Quotes
  • “I think a parade is a form of protest. Joy is a form of protest. Living in your authenticity – not in opposition to something else has become a form of protest.” – Elisha Greenwell
  • “There’s [sic] so many parts that go into it. I want to make sure that we’re thinking about the holistic person, holistic community in this work and not just ‘hey how do you secure the bag.’” – Elisha Greenwell
  • “At this point, let’s start planting seeds as to what it is we want, and eventually we’ll get to the harvest. And, we’ll get to where we want to go. …Knowing that when we plant seeds, there’s patience you have to have with it, a nurturing that has to happen. There’s a commitment to it. You gotta fertilize it and all that stuff to get to it.” – Reonna Johnson
  • “If I can meet people where they’re at, then I can utilize you where you’re at and push you along to get you where you need to be.” – Reonna Johnson
  • [On how to protect their energy and sustaining black joy] “No is a full sentence.” – Lincoln Stephens

Morning Inspiration
Cheryl D. Holmes Miller – Cheryl D. Miller Design | Cheryl D. Miller Fine Art

Cheryl D. Holmes Miller outlines her work and success through the years while also giving advice to young creatives.

Key Quotes
  • “What I really want to inspire you to do is to be a success which means opportunity meets the prepared.”
  • “Be all you can be. A mind is a terrible thing to waste and sure is creativity. But, you’ve gotta stand up. You gotta market and brand and sell every day.”
  • “Assess a need and be bold enough to say that you’re the solution. …You are the answer. You are the solution. So, I need you to rise up and take your place.”

Pass the Mic: Making Space for Black Women to Lead
moderator: Tiffani Swanston-Giles – FCB Health
Shannon Washington – R/GA
Krystle Watler – VIRTUE
Jendayi Smith – Mattel

The women here were really enjoying themselves and bouncing off of each other while harnessing great energy. They encourage black women to keep opening doors for others, to work together, and to be your authentic self – no matter what others and the patriarchy say. As Krystle Watler says, there’s no more of being quiet for other’s comfort.

Key Quotes
  • “This isn’t a zero-sum game. Because you give someone an opportunity or because you allow more people at the table, the pie doesn’t get smaller. That narrative needs to finally disappear. It actually gets bigger. It actually gets more delicious.” – Krystle Watler
  • “You still have leftover people, places, and constructs that use the same tools and call it innovation. They call it culture or the way that it is. When you think about what colonization does, it strips everything away from you and tells you that you have to be this thing to be successful. …You don’t have to accept that. …Protect your magic and protect what makes you different. That is what they’re scared of. And that is what is the most powerful you.” – Shannon Washington
  • “We have to get, especially young black women, have to get it out of our heads that our confidence will lead us to getting [sic] labeled one way, being a bitch or whatnot. Do you know how many bitches I’ve worked with who are super duper successful?” – Shannon Washington
  • “Be your authentic self. I was afraid to be my authentic self at work when I first started as a professional. And because of that, I would be nervous to pitch ideas. I just didn’t feel comfortable, and I feel like now is the time where you bring can yourself to the table, bring your culture to the table. People need to know.” – Jendayi Smith

Trump’s executive order stops diversity training

The Executive Order and Memos

Last week, Trump forbade agencies with government contracts from participating in ‘divisive’ and ‘un-American’ diversity training. They banned critical race theory, white privilege, and unconscious bias. They claim that training that “promotes race or sex-stereotyping or scapegoating similarly undermines efficiency in federal contracting.”

Read the executive order here.

Should an agency not comply, they threaten “contracts may be “canceled, terminated, or suspended in whole or in part and the contractor may be declared ineligible for further Government contracts.” There’s a lot of confusion as to what exactly this means and what’s ‘banned.’ But it does state that “Federal contractors are to be required to represent that they will not conduct such trainings for their own employees, with potential sanctions for noncompliance.” Also, the memo encourages federal employees to report such training to agency inspector general offices.

Trump in a two-part tweet said: “A few weeks ago, I banned efforts to indoctrinate government employees with divisive and harmful sex and race-based ideologies. Today, I’ve expanded that ban to people and companies that do business… …with our Country, the United States military, government contractors, and grantees. Americans should be taught to take Pride in our Great Country, and if you don’t, there’s nothing in it for you!” Further, when asked about it in Tuesday’s debate, he said, “I ended it because it’s racist. They were teaching people that our country is a horrible place, it’s a racist place. And they were teaching people to hate our country. And I’m not gonna allow that to happen.”

The Meat Of It

  1. Non-compliance penalties are severe. Contracts can be canceled or terminated. Further, agencies can be debarred from working with the government which has financial penalties associated with it.
  2. Employees will be encouraged to report any banned training or workshops that still occur. The Department of Labor has created a hotline and will investigate complaints, through the order of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).
  3. The government will require you to give information about your programs. Before October 22, the OFCCP will request information regarding any training or workshops provided to employees.
  4. Language is going to be important. Removing things such as unconscious bias conversations and “white privilege” terminology will likely be necessary.

This is absurd. It angers me beyond belief. No one is teaching people to hate the US. Instead, these programs are teaching people to love every single part of the US.

But, I guess fear and hate can easily lead one to the extremes. Unfortunately, these measures have already been enacted and being put into practice. The American Association of Advertising Agencies and other trade associations voiced their opposition. The Pentagon also is ‘colliding’ with Trump regarding the order as well.

I just urge people to vote against hate. Register to vote, or check your voter registration.