Latest / Black Box Theory Podcast / How You Look Changes How You're Treated
Transcript
- Malcolm: Okay, let me ask you this. Would you wear a do rag or a bonnet to a job interview? Would you wear do-rag or a bonnet to to the club when you go out with your friends? Would you wear a do rag or a bonnet, right? To to a ⁓ to a networking event? No, you wouldn't. Why? ⁓ well, that's different because how is it different? In the class, you are learning. You are preparing yourself. You're you are literally learning the foundational concepts that are going to carry you in the professional world. And the only difference is that this is actually being in the in the same place, right? This is actually being in the professional. ⁓ well, well, class isn't the same as a job, and I should be able to relax and dress how I want to in class. You can dress how you want to. It's not a uniform, it's not a uniform, but it's like there's a time and a place, bro. Right? Like, like, like they're like, and it's like you have to understand like how your outward appearance, like, whether it's a good thing or not. And it's not, you know, prejudice and stereotypes aren't a good thing. But you have to understand, right? A lot of people perceive black people as these violent, stupid, like not, you know, like like they a lot of people who don't know about like who have not been in black communities or been surrounded by black people, a lot of them their only exposure to us is what they see on the news or what they see in these, you know, headlines. And more nine times out of ten, a headline about a black person, it's usually something bad. It's usually something violent. It's usually something about a crime or something that doesn't put us in a good light, right? So it's like Thomas: Mm-hmm. Malcolm: That external, that outward appearance that you carry yourself with is usually the first thing that's that's registered in someone's mind, right? If I was to walk out outside, right, and I I I walk out outside in a in a in a you know normal clothes, but I have on a do-rag, ⁓ you know, I got a tank top on, you know, I got, like I said, I'm someone who has I have a lot of tattoos. I'm black, I have earrings, like I I don't have my locks anymore, but if I did, do you think that the first thought that someone sees when they see me and I come outside like that is, you know what? I think. This guy might have studied mechanical engineering, graduated Magna Cum Lade, and works in Microsoft right now. I I I that's what I think. No, they don't think that. Nobody that has seen me in public and doesn't know me, that is their first thought. Until you have a conversation with me and you hear how I speak and I enunciate my words and that I have more to me than just my outward appearance, you understand that I'm someone with some substance and some death. But this to the naked eye, and I'm not gonna sit here and say I like I I I that's part of the reason why I cut my locks off, bro. There's no reason I should go in the gas station. Thomas: Mm-hmm. Malcolm: And people start, hold on, hold on. Like, bro, I'm gonna I'm gonna pay for the I'm gonna pay for the Skittles, dog. I just want some some so I want twenty one point four gang. Like I I mind you I'm I don't think I'm an intimidating looking person, but I'm a little taller, I guess, than most people. But by no means and I'm I am I I'm not a super big guy. I'm I have a couple tattoos, okay, cool. But by no means am I am I some type of I walk in and I should like command some fear in the room. That that's never been me, bro. Like that has never ever been me. But there's but literally I have walked in when I had my locks in c in school, bro. There have been so many times I've walked into spaces, like I'll have like my do-rag cap on coming from the gym. I'll have like a tank top on or something like that. I will live I might just want a water bottle, bro. And I've literally been I've been followed around in stores to make sure that I don't take anything. Like, mind you, I have I have my wallet in hand, my apple pay in hand, like I'm about go pay, bro. But it's like I've seen it firsthand. And so a lot of people they don't understand it because they haven't seen it yet, because they maybe have been only in communities where they aren't judged by it, or because they see other people do it, so they think it's okay. But there's a time and a place for everything, bro. And this is one of those things. The same way you wouldn't wear a do-rag or a bonnet to a job interview, to a networking event, you wouldn't wear it to the club. And that has nothing to do with any any of the things I just said. There's a time and a place for everything, right? Carry yourself. Present yourself in a way that you want to be treated and you want to be understood and you want to be taken like you want to be taken seriously, bro. We like, come on, bro. Like, like, like, if you want people to take yourself take you seriously, it's not about conforming. To to culture to standards, but it's about like like we're in HBCU, bro. We are already prejudiced. We are we already have all these bad titles and these people that doubt us, that think the truth that we aren't smart, that we're violent, that we're just like, you know, gang members, this and that. Adding wearing a do-acrobant, all it does is just amplify those those prejudices and those beliefs, bro. We have to separate ourselves. If you want to be treated and and understood as someone who's about their business, that handles their business, that you're you're you're educated, right? You're you're you're well read, right? You can you can you know you you can you can perform things at a very high level, you're high functioning, you're capable, you can excel right in different fields, right? Like like you can do things, right? You have to dress the part, you have to show yourself, you have to carry yourself, you have to present yourself, bro.