Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Just as there is a wealth and income gap, a health and achievement gap, and a punishment and opportunity gap, there is also a power gap in our civic and corporate institutions. In a nation where nearly every organization values diversity and inclusion (or at least gives lip service to them), and most every individual believes in “opportunity for all,” people of color are vastly under-represented in senior leadership positions across all sectors of American society. Something is still not working. So what explains this enduring maldistribution of power and influence among men—and especially women—of color? And what should we do about it? Is it even enough to focus on racial representation as the measure of progress? In this invaluable talk for leaders in companies both large and small, Khalil Gibran Muhammad outlines three barriers—efficiency, color-blindness, and investment—that must be overcome for organizations to transform and harness the best ideas for success in the 21st century.

Juneteenth commemorates the last African Americans to gain their freedom from slavery. Like so much of American history, it was a moment of great promise and impending peril. Black freedom was not embraced by those who long benefited from slavery, even in the aftermath of a destructive war and a devastated nation. Slavery, the original sin of America, was not an aberration in the DNA of the nation, but rather one of its pillar institutions. And as it evolved from slavery to segregation, the story of racial progress was also a story of racial retreat and backlash.

In this compelling talk, racial justice authority Khalil Gibran Muhammad reveals how the reluctant freedom extended to Black Texans can act as a reminder: that we all have a role to play to challenge oppression in our society today, and to be vigilant stewards of the freedoms we have. Juneteenth gives us a chance to look at the twin legacies of slavery and freedom, side by side, and helps us to reflect on how far we’ve come and how far we still must go. 

The biggest bias of all? It’s thinking that we’re ‘unbiased.’ To social psychologists, there’s no such thing as a clean slate—individually, or institutionally. Compelling evidence tells us that even babies discriminate, absorbing skin color differences at infancy. And over time, children begin to interpret these differences through the cultural frameworks of their social environments: at home, in the neighborhood, and at school. Yet we confuse color-blindness—an impossibility—with non-racist behavior, which are not the same. In this talk, Khalil Gibran Muhammad argues that bias education—or race ed.—must be embraced in our curricula and our training programs. By acknowledging bias and difference, we can reduce harm, both past and present. We can create safer schools and institutions, and connect our histories to our stated values in more meaningful ways. And we can move toward greater racial equity—at the individual, institutional, and civic level.

Well known are the bleak statistics of incarceration that make America the world’s leading jailer. Racial disparities frame much of the debate about the disproportionate impact of police and prisons on black and brown lives and increasingly poor, rural whites. How does history inform our present moment and help guide us to a greater cultural understanding of how we think about crime and punishment? Are we unwittingly repeating mistakes from the past? How are we supposed to balance individual accountability with social responsibility? By taking the long view, this talk reveals how so much of what defines the crisis of mass incarceration today are rooted in a set of old ideas. And that the solution to today’s problems also grow out of our examples from our history.