Everyone at the Table

Good afternoon from New York City and welcome to everyone at the table. I am Hady Mendez, your host and the global lead for LatinFlair, Cloudflare's Latinx employee resource group or ERG. As a reminder to those of you who didn't join us last week, employee resource groups are formed by employees of underrepresented groups who share a common characteristic, such as race or sexual orientation. ERGs foster inclusion and belonging in the workplace. Everyone at the table is a series that brings together members of different ERGs and allows us to explore everyday topics from the perspective of people with different perspectives. To make sure everyone has an equal opportunity to speak and have their voice heard, I will be serving as the moderator. And as a reminder to all of our viewers, we will be taking your questions at live studio at Cloudflare.TV. So today on our show, we have representatives from a few ERGs at Cloudflare. We invited them here today to talk about allyship. When I think of allyship, a few things come to mind for me. Showing up, speaking up and creating space. So for me, being an ally means that I show up for my Black colleagues and friends, I check in on them, I show them love and support, and I listen to them. I listen to their reality. It also means that I speak up for racial justice wherever and whenever, no matter what. And ultimately, it means that I create space for them. Because it's important to amplify and hear Black voices right now. Being an ally right now means acknowledging that this is not our time and this is not about us. So panel, I'm curious to hear what being an ally means to you. Please share your name, what office you're from, and then tell us a little bit about what motivated you to join today's conversation. Malvika, would you like to start us off? Sure. So hi, I'm Malvika Balachandran Tadeusz. I'm a member of our special projects team and I'm based in our London office. And just because special projects can mean a lot of different things in different companies. I think it's also known as our corporate strategy or corporate development team. As a bisexual Indian woman, I'm literally part of almost every ERG. So I care about and am involved in all of the ERGs. And kind of why I'm here is I think, in general, growing up, I've never been a fan of things when they're unequal or unjust. And I want the world to be fair and I want to fight for a better world. And so that's really why I continue to invest time in the ERGs. Because I think there's so much potential for improvement and I don't want to accept the status quo. Great. Thank you. Anyone else want to share? Yeah, I'll jump in here. So I'm Talia. I'm from our San Francisco office. And look, we all have a part to play right now. We're at a critical part of our history and 20 years from now. I have to make sure that I can honestly say that I took a stand and I did everything that I could to support the Black community. To make sure people or to make sure Black people are treated as humans. And that no Black person ever has to be afraid of being killed because someone didn't think their life mattered enough. And on the other side of that, I think about what future I want to create. And starting to critically look at that and thinking about what actions I have to take, that we all have to take to get us there. Thanks, Talia. Amy or Zach? All right. Amy, would you like to go? Sure. I'm Amy. I'm on the office team in San Francisco. And I'm here to talk today because I was invited to be here. And I grew up in Minneapolis. So I'm like intimately connected to the kind of situation that has erupted that brought so much attention to what's kind of going on right now in the world. But I was an ally at a young age. I was the type that would go to, you know, I snuck into college parties and would argue with drunk white frat boys about human rights when I was a child. And I realized that that wasn't, you know, really a path towards understanding. And so, you know, I'm here to like learn how to be a good ally and how to hold space and make sure that, yeah, that equality is important and is being looked at. And I'm mostly here to listen and learn from our communities and our ERGs. Thanks, Amy. Hi, everyone. My name is Zach. I'm a business development rep in San Francisco. My motivation for being here today is basically one that's motivated me throughout my entire career, my life, my education. I'm the son of an immigrant and a refugee. So having a space to voice my opinion is very important to me and the space to espouse my beliefs and support those that I love and care for is important to me. So thank you for having me. Thanks, everyone. As I listen to you guys share, I'm kind of like feeling like I want to share a little bit of my own story and why I'm here today. So I will share that I'm here today because I'm angry. And I'm tired of the senseless killings, especially at the hands of people that are supposed to be protecting us. I am enraged and outraged at the atrocities that have been committed against our Black community for centuries. And honestly, kind of a really honest question for all of our viewers and everyone here today is if you don't feel the same way, I think you should ask yourself, why not? So panel, coming back to you, what's coming up for you right now? And what have you heard from family and friends around Black Lives Matters, around what's happening around the country and the world right now? What are you hearing? Anyone can feel free to jump in now. I think like you, Hadi, I too feel really angry. I think there's, on one hand, I'm glad that people are waking up. But on the other hand, I'm like, where were all these people? Like, these are not new atrocities. As you said, this is an issue that's been happening for centuries. Police brutality, police violence is a serious issue. And honestly, like post-90s Bill Clinton era, the war on drugs. I think a lot of the policies we see around policing in Black neighborhoods or Black and Latino neighborhoods have come out of a lot of that kind of war on drugs mentality of the 90s. And so I think like you, I am glad to see that the narrative and mainstream cultures is starting to really question and not accept the status quo. But like you, I think I'm angry that we're only now really starting to wake up and have these debates. Totally. And to jump in here and echo a little bit of what you said, Hadi, this is the time for change and to focus on Black people in the Black community. If you're resigned to what's going on around you right now in the world and in the Black community, ask yourself why? Be uncomfortable, have empathy, do your research, get educated. And like what you were saying, allyship is an action. And I think that message gets lost sometimes. It's not just one thing that you did last Tuesday or last week on some random day. It's a mentality and a way of being such that you are actively noticing when racist things are said, when racist actions are taken, or people are being targeted based off of the color of their skin. And for me, it's constantly making it so uncomfortable for people who behave this way that they just feel like they have to stop because you're just making it not okay in that space. And it exists today because every time we resign, we're saying it's okay to treat humans like that. Thank you, Talia. Well said. I just I think that now is a time when it comes to actions for we have elections coming up this year. So just to encourage like our friends and family like who are upset, you know, or, you know, we're all very angry. But to really be looking at our municipalities and educating ourselves about like the district attorneys and the judges and stuff that are because like it's really in the local communities that that we need to see these things changing. You know, there's been some hopeful things that are emerging from, you know, from the movement that's happening now as far as like policy shifting. But I'm really like I've been following like the League of Pissed Off Voters whenever I do my like my research for like, like, who am I going to vote for in these like small municipalities that I might not know. But, you know, let's keep our eyes open for more voter guides and maybe there's going to be some more like Black Lives Matter or more people of color focus like voter guides. I really think writing to our representatives and like those type of actions because it's like we, you know, I don't have honestly people in my like day to day community that are just realizing that there's racism. Like most of the people that I interact with on the day to day like we already know and have been like aware of these types of things and even working for change. But, you know, we really need to educate ourselves like politically and make those voter and, you know, those kind of policy changes and know who to support. Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah, thank you for that. And I would obviously like to echo the sentiments of the fellow speakers today. Basically, thank you for calling it a movement, not a moment in history, right? This isn't an instance of racism. It's an institution of racism that we're trying to combat. I definitely think that, you know, contemporarily with everything going on with COVID, everyone just kind of being in a reflective state and in a state of isolation. A lot of people have had more time to identify with this cause, identify with, you know, inherent bias, racial injustice, right? And I think it's important for us to recognize that, you know, seeing the inequality in this system, that it's always existed. And sometimes, you know, had been explicit, but also been, again, like Talia said, not necessarily addressed. So this is our time to say explicitly, excuse me, that this is not right. This shouldn't exist in our society. And we want to shape our society for our children, right, and future generations. And I think this is the best step forward. Absolutely. You know, you guys all brought up really good points about, like, enough is enough. Let's keep, you know, we have to keep the momentum going. We have to inform ourselves. We have to seek out information that's going to support the changes that we're looking for. Anyone have a story, a personal story that they want to share about any encounters that they've had either with family, friends, colleagues that you feel comfortable sharing today? But, you know, just jump in. We'd love to hear them. Yeah, I recently had a discussion with my family around the rhetoric used in my native language, which is Arabic. We spoke it at home, amongst other languages, but also addressing, you know, the racial wording around certain words, right, and addressing, you know, how we speak of other people of different races. And, you know, how a lot of it is rooted in oppressive behavior, historically. And so just kind of attacking that head-on, right, and making a space where you can talk to your parents, who generally tend to be a little more right-wing than you, and explaining to them, like, hey, this is not a place of judgment, but rather understanding. I'm trying to help you understand that those words don't have a place in today's society. We've moved on from that. Help us move on, right? So I think those conversations are very healing, in a sense, and bring people closer together. Thanks, Zach. That's good to hear. Anyone else have a story they want to share? Was someone going to say something? Yeah, I was just going to say. Okay, yeah, jump in. I ended up in a phone conversation with a friend I hadn't talked to for a while last week, and we were discussing what was happening, and I was noticing she was using a lot of, like, rhetoric around, like, what was going on, like, looting, or, you know what I mean? We don't need violent protests, or, you know, it's like, so we're having that, and I said, so what we really need is repatriation, or reparations, reparations, you know, like, we need economic, like, people need economic equalization. That is, like, in this systemic racism that's happening, it's not just about, you know, police brutality, but there's all this, like, economic inequality that has been by design. And so, like, the Brookings Institute just released a report on April 15th about reparations, so we had this conversation, and she was like, well, who gets reparations? And so then it was, like, a thing where I looked it up, and I sent her some links, because we realized, like, just arguing back and forth about who gets this or that, you know, that we didn't have the full understanding. We had to do more research, you know, and then I needed to send links, and I think we need to be stopping the spread of disinformation. That's one thing that we can also do in our communities, is, like, when you see your friend share some post, or share some headline, or some tweet, it's, like, look into the validity of that, because, like, the way that, and I think tech companies have something to do with that. Like, in the Oakland, the first big Oakland protest, there was a shooting at a federal building that the police initially said was unrelated, but, like, suddenly it just, like, started going out there, like, they're already shooting, you know, law enforcement in Oakland, and, like, on Twitter, and it, like, really, this rhetoric can get so inflammatory, and we're not questioning the validity of the sources. So I think we need to, like, work with our communities and be stopping the spread of disinformation. Yeah, that's great. That's helpful. For sure. Zach, when you were talking, you reminded me of something I learned about, and actually, I think you were part of the conversation, but it was, like, an internal discussion we were having with our Latin Flair ERG last week, and one of our colleagues directed us to this website called lettersforblacklives.com. Lettersforblacklives.com. And apparently, that website has the translation of, like, how do you talk to your parents and grandparents about the movement? And, like, I don't know, you know, a lot of languages. I don't know how many languages. And I pulled that out in Spanish and sent it, you know, put it in our chat room for Latin Flair, because I felt like at least that's, like, a starting point for some people. But, you know, we do want to be engaging other people. It's great that we're there, and, like, amen for that, right? And we need to kind of take it to the next level and make sure we're bringing the people that we know and love with us on this journey and into this movement. So I want to move on to the next question and kind of pick your brain a little bit about one of two things. So answer the question in the way you want. One is what is your message to people that are hesitant to support the Black Lives Matter movement? What do you want to tell them? What do you want them to know? Also, and so it's like a two-step question, answer whatever you kind of, you know, you're feeling you want to answer the most, is what is something you want people to know so that they can be better allies to their Black colleagues and friends? So one is what is your message to people who are not quite there yet? But assuming they are there, what are some ways, what is something they can do right now, today, maybe, you know, one new thing that they can do to support and, you know, yeah, to just show support and be better allies? Who would like to start us off this time? Talia? I'll start us off. Okay. So my message is make it personal. Imagine if this were your sister, your mom, your brother, your dad, and they were being treated this way. What would you do? And when it's personal, we can feel it and we can step into someone else's shoes and experience. I remember just talking with one of my, one of our colleagues last week and thinking about, you know, times that I've experienced racism, and then I took another step back and I was like, but wait, if I was looking from the perspective of a Black person, I've also, you know, even though I've experienced racism, never felt like my life was threatened. And tap into that world, like push yourself and ask yourself questions. And don't not do anything because you're scared of making a mistake or you're uncomfortable or you resign. There's a lot of us who are wondering what the right things to do are. And, you know, there's not necessarily a right answer. There's definitely things that are harmful, but we're all taking the actions that we think are right. So listen and move forward. And if you make a mistake, acknowledge it, take responsibility for it. And then keep moving forward. Keep asking yourself, what can I do today that will make a difference? And then go do that thing. And one thing I think I constantly think about every day is, is this an opportunity to speak up? Is this an opportunity to speak up? Just find that opportunity and be impactful. And have courage. You need courage to be part of this movement. We, you know, we're going to have to challenge people that are our friends and family. And it's very uncomfortable. It's going to be uncomfortable for them to hear and for us to say it. But that doesn't mean we don't say it. So thank you, Talia. That's excellent. I love it. Who else wants to chime in here? We have probably about ten minutes left. So I want to make sure we get some, you know, as much information out there to everyone as we can. Yeah. I mean, just on the topic of, like, you know, for people who say they're not sure about supporting Black Lives Matter, particularly with friends who are white, when I hear that, it reminds me a lot of some of the same time. Like, sometimes people will also say, like, oh, I'm not a feminist. Because there's this misunderstanding that that word or that label means that you think one group, like, is fighting for more. But, like, all that Black Lives Matter is about is about working towards having equal rights and equal treatment. And it's the same with, like, the feminist movement is about equal rights and equal treatment. And if, like, we're all, like, yes, the title says Black Lives Matter. But that is because of the implied fact that we're treating white lives like they matter much more than black lives. And so all we're asking for your support with is saying that, like, it truly is, we believe that people should be treated equally. But what this really is, and I think this goes back to, like, being a good ally. Like, I think that one of the things that I find, like, to be a good ally is you need to, you can't get better until you know what you're doing wrong, right? And so if you realize that the black community is facing gross injustice, then, like, you have to acknowledge that we, this is the community we are wronging. This is the community we are failing. And I think that's why the title Black Lives Matter is really important, because it's part of acknowledging we have failed the black community. We have not done enough. And now is the time to change that. And, like, we are behind this community. And I think you have to state what you're doing wrong and show what you're doing wrong in order to start making right. It's not just, you know, if you say we want to support everybody, I think, so where are we identifying the problems? And I think that's really what I feel is important about calling it Black Lives Matter. Yeah. Thanks. I would agree with that as well. And I just wanted to thank you guys for those very cogent points. And, yeah, you know, making it personal and identifying with that campaign and understanding that, you know, rising tide lifts all boats is the sentiment that we should be going in, is the mind frame we should be going in, and then having these discussions and framing these discussions. And I would just posit additionally to that is, you know, realize your own bias as well. Everyone has bias. And ignoring that is ignoring, you know, a major aspect of your subconscious, of the way you think, the way you internalize things. So understand that you do have bias and actively work against that bias, right, in all aspects of life and every interaction. You know, be more mindful. And I think to everyone out there who may be wondering what can I do, that is a very easy first step. Watch yourself internally, right? What you say, what you do, how you behave around people. And, you know, one step in the right direction is always better than not. Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing. That's so true. And going back to, like, the people who might be resisting, trying to dig into, like, what is that resistance about? Why is this making me uncomfortable as a white person, as a white man, as whomever you are? If Black Lives Matter is triggering a feeling, dig into that. Like, why? Because, really, it's what you guys said. We're just trying to get everyone on equal footing here. So why is that so uncomfortable? It shouldn't be. Amy, we haven't heard from you on this one. Yeah. So there's a few things. You know, that's a, like, multi-layered question. The first one as far as, like, you know, if people are resistant in general to, like, the Black Lives Matter movement. Like, people are kind of where they're at. Like, one thing is, like, I encourage people to vote with their dollars in general and use financial support to support organizations that they, you know, that they feel called to support. So it's, like, there's a lot of different ways to support African -American communities without necessarily, like, waving an exact sign that says Black Lives Matter, which they absolutely do. But it's, like, I encourage people to, like, support different youth foundations that help make sure that children have opportunities and where we're, like, where we can focus on different. Like, I support an organization called Planting Justice that takes people who are in the penitentiary system and gives them, like, work pass. So there's a lot of ways to, like, be, like, well, what do you care about? You know, because people, like, the rhetoric in the media can be really inflammatory and people can have resistance. I also think it's important to, like, work through your own white guilt with your white friends and not expect your Black and people of color friends to, like, give you a pat on the back for any kind of, like, allyship that you're doing. Like, you're trying to be a good person because you're a good person, not because it's the cool thing to do right now. Like, what I've been doing, honestly, is trying to give a little bit of space to my colleagues who are going through this movement right now, especially, like, as it's very acute. You know, like, when it came to posting stuff, when the third precinct in Minneapolis was burning down, like, I was happy. I know that that was a den of evil, personally, you know. And it's, like, I wanted to post a lot more than I did, you know, and just be, like, you know, like, how I feel. But it's, like, I even waited 10 days before I said, hey, I'm from Minneapolis because I didn't want to, like, shine that light on, like, you know. And it's, like, I talked to my friends, you know, outside of the community, like, hey, this is sad to see our city burning down right now. Like, what's going on there? You know, but also, like, the community in Minneapolis came so together and, like, supporting each other in such a beautiful way that I want, like, those kind of stories to get told just, like, from, like, what people are doing there and how people are coming together. And maybe we're getting a new model of public safety. Yeah. And I also remind people, whenever they mention looting, that the real looting started in 1492. That's one thing I say to people. Thank you, Amy. That's a good one. I want to give you guys one more thing, an opportunity to share one more thing. But I wanted to just highlight, Amy, one thing you said about finding your niche in the movement. You know, you can be doing protests. You can be donating money, doing a fundraiser. You can be, as a Black, I'm sorry, as a manager, making sure that your team is diverse, promoting and advancing Black colleagues and employees. So you can do different things depending on your role. So don't feel like, oh, I don't know what to do. Pick one thing. Pick one thing and go with it. Real quick, one more go around. Just really quick, like, short answer. What are you reading or watching or listening right now? Amy, let's start with you real quick. What are you reading, watching or listening? Just one answer. I've been reading the Atlantic and their coverage. Thank you. Talia, how about you? What are you reading, watching or listening to? I haven't dug into it yet, but one book we just ordered is How to Not Be Stupid About Racism. So excited to dig into that. Great. How about you, Malvika? Reading, watching or listening to? Watching the new BBC show about the Windrush generation. Awesome. Zach? Well, I've read it already, but I'm reading it again. Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault. Awesome. Well, on that note, I want to bring this week's segment to a close. We just have two more minutes, but not before thanking the panel. So thank you very much for your openness and honesty. I loved having you guys here today. I know we're preaching to the choir, but it's so lovely to be surrounded and work with people like you and your mindset. I appreciate all you guys. Next week, our viewing time is going to change because we're going to be catering to our viewer audience in the APAC region. So everyone at the table, we're moving our time. But we have not forgotten that June is Pride Month. So we're going to be dedicating a whole segment next week to our friends at Proud Flair. And speaking of Pride Month, I have the good news story of the week. I think everyone here knows that the American LGBT community just got some really exciting news yesterday. In a landmark case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act, barring sex discrimination in the workplace, protects LGBTQ employees from being fired because of their sexual orientation. Right on, right? The 6-3 opinion was a huge win for the LGBT community and a historic victory. So great win for everyone everywhere. Up next, please join us for Yes, We Can. It's a recurring series presented by Proud Flair co-founder and COO, featuring interviews with women entrepreneurs and tech leaders who clearly debunk the myth that there are no women in tech. So with that, we once again offer a big thank you to all of you for joining us at Everyone at the Table, where your point of view is valued, appreciated, and heard. See you next week. Bye, everybody. Bye. Black Lives Matter. Bye. ♪♪