09.Emotional Intelligence & Racism in America

In this episode Black History Educator Brittany Wilkins discusses how emotional intelligence plays a role in addressing inequality in America.  This podcast offers insight on emotional intelligence and how hate produced America's economy. 

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Transcript

“Education is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world” In our society we see evidence of Nelson Mandela’s philosophy. In the STEM industry scientists and researchers have created and produced a vaccine for COVID-19 that enables doctors to save lives and will one day allow us to cancel social distancing. We see engineers in the  Aerospace industry designing and building spaceships that will enable humans to journey beyond the earth to space. Our society has gone from horses and carriages to electric cars. In our own lives education has afforded many of us to live the American dream, work our dream jobs, and so much more.

Education has not changed the racial divide in America. Education cannot compete with ignorance. Many believe it’s a solution to bridge the gap between loving, respecting, and having empathy for one another as opposed to hating a person due to their skin color. Corporations have diversity and inclusion , unconscious bias, and sensitivity training. Individuals working within these organizations are required to fulfill  these training per corporate policy. When, Where, and How is the knowledge learned being applied? In some regards it may fuel discrimination. In an article a white male employee responded to his company’s pulse survey with these comments, our black employees should not be given special treatment. Why do they have programs to advance and promote them?

The biggest tech giant in America came under fire for terminating  their top ethics artificial intelligence technical expert. They wanted her  work, but not her message in challenging the company to take action in  improving the treatment of minority workers. The AI expert said, the discriminatory behaviors people of color face in the workplace is dehumanizing. I sympathize with this statement as I been through it. I talk about this in my new book Letters to My Sisters in Engineering. My experience working as a black woman in engineering. I asked my manager a question in a team meeting. In a room full of my peers, he told me I was not in charge of thinking. All this being motivated by prejudices against African Americans motivated by hate and racism. 

A bigger example where you see education cannot drive out hate is what occurred at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Those who participated were not just country loving hillbillies. You had CEO’s, nurses, realtors, and sadly those of the Christian faith acting unruly. Movements like this is why America is not great.  What the world witnessed has been categorized as a protest, terrorist attack, white privilege spoiled adults not getting their way. No matter what the headline or narrative they want to portray about the events that occurred, it was rooted in hate.

 Emotions rooted in hate shows the lack of maturity in emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a self-awareness where one recognizes his or her own emotions. The human brain has so many electro mechanical reactions happening. The part of the brain that influences our behavior is the limbic brain. It is responsible for emotional memory and processing our emotions. Depending on the circumstance our brains can become hijacked, as it short circuits rational thinking blocking and clouding our judgement. There is a neurological  and psychological warfare within the mind that education is up against. Neocortex brain is responsible for infinite learning and rational thought.  Emotion has no logic or reasoning. It what one thinks satisfies them in the moment.

Hate is an emotion, so what produces hates? Could it be fueled by capitalistic gain? Maybe along this line of thinking

I want to build and industrialize America to strengthen its position in the world for commerce and trade. I want to build its industries at the cheapest rate possible. America needs laborers to do the work for us. I know let’s start an expedition  and pull resources from the across the world. We will build America for our gain and privilege by oppressing and tearing down some people other than our own. As long as this population of people stays down, our power at the top remains.   

Is hate a business model for profit? Did hate build America’s economy. It been working for 400 years, why would we stop producing it?

If hate where a product being run on an  assembly line it would continue to be manufactured until it was discontinued or if the market no longer demanded it. As long as the market is demanding it there will always be a need to produce it. 

I’ve heard many times nobody is born a racist. Racism is taught. Can you unteach racism? Maybe that is the intention for Diversity and inclusion training. The more  a person is exposed to something they adopt it as their own belief. An individual raised to be hateful is capable of producing hate themselves. There are people whom may share the same set of beliefs. A partnership is forged that creates a movement that then influences others giving rise to racial injustice and inequality. 

What mechanism can be utilized to stop hate from producing and running its course in the world? No one mechanism will solve it as it’s a complex problem with many variables. America has some soul searching to do  that gets into the heart of the issue. 

For those of you reading or listening, I do not know the motives or desires of your heart. You may be feeling some type of way about something or someone. If you make any investments in 2021 let it be to examine your own heart. Get that hate out of your heart!