This post is a departure from our regular blog entries. Usually we are bringing you marketing advice or some form of inspiration. But today, we’ve got to get serious.

At the Maltshop, Dellanee and I both hold equality and love for others as HIGH priorities. But neither of us can sit back and go about our daily lives, building the Maltshop, while black men are being murdered across our country due to police brutality.

Now before you get all “thin blue line” on me, let me provide some background. I formerly worked for a local law enforcement agency. My stepmother is a respected sheriffs deputy in a nearby parish. A good friend was killed in the line of duty here in Shreveport just five years ago. I speak from experience when I say that officers across this country are more than likely NOT outright being taught to treat people of color differently. But - and that’s a big BUT - those officers are human. They come to work with all of their implicit biases in place, as well as their own struggles, anger and frustration. While most of us don’t have a gun on our side for our jobs, they do. If you or I get mad at a customer, we send a strongly worded email or give them the side-eye as a they approach the counter. We don’t have lethal force at our fingertips. We’re not taught how to kill someone or how to value our own lives above the bad guy. (And yes, ALL OFFICERS are taught to value themselves and their fellow brothers and sisters in blue over the “bad guy.” This was something I struggled with during my police academy days and helped push me to my mental breakdown while there, further proving that it was not the career field for me.) Knowing that they are taught that, it’s not a far leap to see that the conditioning and access to deadly force is a bad combination. Add to that mix the not-so-distant history of racial tension in our country, and you have a recipe for profiling and deadly disasters.

Why does this matter to me and the Maltshop? Yes, I know. I’m white. I’ll never know the full extent to which George Floyd or any other person of color lives their lives. But one of my very best friends and business partners is black. I want her to be able to grow, live and thrive without fear of persecution because of someone else’s hangups about her skin color. I want her future children to be healthy and happy. I don’t want her or any of my other black friends to have to teach their children to fear the police versus seeing them as a resource and an ally. I want our future employees to feel safe and protected, no matter their race or sexual orientation or religion or nationality. I want the Maltshop to be a place of acceptance and love, one that brings hope, not destroys it. One that builds future community leaders and furthers the ideals of true freedom and equality for all.

I say all of that to say this: white people, we have to lead this charge. Black people are fed up and rightly so. They need us to write the op-eds and the letters to the police chiefs asking about training policies. They need us to make the phone calls to legislators and to protest openly for their safety. If we don’t use our privilege to show love, acceptance and care, then what are we using it for? Do we truly want a nation that is “one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for ALL”? If so, then we need to take the lead on this and fix this problem. We need to LISTEN to our black friends and find out what they need. And then, we need to STAND with them and fight! The only way to stop this is if we work together for the greater good.

No other innocent black man needs to depart this life because of law enforcement.