There are moments when having these conversations where I think to myself how grateful I am to meet such amazing human beings and David is one of them. David is an individual that I could immediately tell how genuine and a beautiful person he truly is. As a creative and Charlotte born and raised, we met to discuss COVID-19, social justice movements, and the importance of exercising our right to vote. So I asked, "how are you?"
“Overall, I’m well. I have been super focused at this point. What I do is centered around community, bridging gaps, and providing opportunities for those that look like me and are into the things that I’m into. I’ve been able to remain level through all of this, if anything, it heightens my energy to get the work done. In a general space, I am focused and fired up to take on the right opportunities that present themselves.”
David works for The Whitaker Group, as a Director for Community Initiatives. They are an internationally recognized black-owned boutique retailer based here in Charlotte. Outside of his 9-5, he is focused on The Hue House, an organization built to support black artists, black creatives, and entrepreneurs of color. Another business of his - Proper Context, formerly AWOL (A Way of Life), where he and his business partner focus on education and curriculum reform, and on top of everything else, he is an artist, photographer, and designer. I asked his experience (good or bad) within his businesses due to COVID-19.
“It’s created a lot of opportunities. The interesting thing about the work for Hue House — if you are already disconnected from a community, the digital divide just makes it that much more of a disconnect so there is that much more of a need for our services. As far as the retail space we have had to pivot quite a bit. It’s all about the reframe, a lot of things we do now are digital. You can be stuck on the way things were or you can innovate while the opportunity presents itself. Once we get back in person all of our digital stuff will be worked out so good reasons to stay optimistic.”
It showed how David and everyone he works with has been making the best of the situation.
“That’s all you can do — it piles on, we’re in a new space with life and then the things that happened to George Floyd happened and now the whole world is on edge and then it causes this other element of a big awakening of a large number of white people that are now paying attention. It’s adjusting to a landscape and then adjusting to another landscape. It’s navigating those waters and that’s new for everyone. There’s a lot of education and a lot of conversation going on. It’s all just happening at once, globally, and we are all feeling the effects of it.”
I was glad he mentioned that because I read something that David said in an Instagram Live video, “Education and getting people on the same page is extremely important when you want to take action on social and political movements.” This resonated with me and why I love having these conversations and the importance of learning and growing as individuals. David elaborated a bit on what he meant from his comment:
“Once you take ownership and personal accountability and understand that this is your problem too — now that’s what progress looks like. We are now creating space to make those changes. It’s hard, it’s weird, it’s awkward but there has to be space for it. It’s our job to inform people to do the right type of work. It has to be part of our everyday life, you have to be able to call these things out. This is all one to one work, it’s having these kinds of conversations with one another. I was reading the book ‘Decolonizing Wealth’ and there was a quote at the end of it that stood out, “To reject the humanity in someone else it to reject the humanity in yourself.” So for me to treat you wrong then I have to acknowledge that I’m F*** up too. Again, that’s the work that has to be done, everyone understanding the human nuance layers and being open to making those changes.”
David made such a great point as we wrapped up our conversation and it ties into the importance of this year's election.
“It’s a long game, it takes one person at a time. For someone wanting to change ya know, it’s great that you feel good, it’s great that you’re learning and doing this, that and the third but this is how I need you to vote so we can start holding these leaders accountable. To stand with me in the street and protest and then go into the booth and go the opposite way, we are not complete in the circle. That is a whole other conversation. In the end, it’s about creating the environment and to bridge the gaps and have those conversations to drive the community forward.”
