WEBVTT 00:09.410 --> 00:11.688 this is part of reforming organization . 00:11.770 --> 00:13.881 We gotta make sure that we pay you on 00:13.881 --> 00:16.103 time that we don't make travel vouchers 00:16.103 --> 00:18.270 so egregious that you hate to travel . 00:18.270 --> 00:20.437 We want to make sure that any time you 00:20.437 --> 00:22.603 change your pay status , we don't stop 00:22.603 --> 00:24.770 your pay , Which does happen . But and 00:24.770 --> 00:26.826 then what we also have to do is make 00:26.826 --> 00:28.770 sure that we're creating a diverse 00:28.770 --> 00:30.992 culture within our organization . Where 00:30.992 --> 00:32.937 everybody's voice matters tell you 00:32.937 --> 00:34.992 nobody can do this stuff alone . You 00:34.992 --> 00:36.937 know , command chief and I , we do 00:36.937 --> 00:38.659 everything together because he 00:38.659 --> 00:40.881 represents so much more than I could by 00:40.881 --> 00:42.937 myself . He represents 75% of who we 00:42.937 --> 00:44.992 are just by being a non commissioned 00:44.992 --> 00:46.992 officer . So I looked at myself and 00:46.992 --> 00:49.214 really , some of the conversations that 00:49.214 --> 00:52.150 I had is how do I feel about everything 00:52.150 --> 00:55.610 that's going on in the world in this 00:55.610 --> 00:58.950 civil unrest environment . For as as 00:58.950 --> 01:01.640 being black , How do I feel about it ? 01:01.640 --> 01:04.370 It's being a police officer . I don't 01:04.370 --> 01:06.370 like feel about it as being a black 01:06.370 --> 01:09.120 police office . I feel like the general 01:09.120 --> 01:11.690 consensus is that with all this up , 01:11.690 --> 01:14.170 what's going on and if if none of you 01:14.170 --> 01:17.290 guys air tracking ? Um , the Air Force 01:17.290 --> 01:19.290 Jags came out with the whole racial 01:19.290 --> 01:21.140 disparity . As far as you see MJ 01:21.140 --> 01:24.550 punishment . Um , so I go online and I 01:24.560 --> 01:26.560 try to get the polls . Kind of like 01:26.560 --> 01:28.616 what you chief said . You know , you 01:28.616 --> 01:30.838 can't Can I just have one source ? So I 01:30.838 --> 01:32.893 tried to filter out do the noise and 01:32.893 --> 01:34.949 Facebook social media and try to see 01:35.030 --> 01:38.290 what everybody's thinking . Um , in the 01:38.290 --> 01:42.040 general consensus is that , um it is a 01:42.040 --> 01:44.207 band aid solution . Like we're talking 01:44.207 --> 01:47.230 about this because x y Z happened . Eso 01:47.230 --> 01:49.740 my question Porter group is how What 01:49.740 --> 01:51.962 what is the most effective class form ? 01:52.440 --> 01:55.090 Um , obviously , you know , we have a 01:55.100 --> 01:57.560 commander school and what not ? Um , 01:57.890 --> 02:00.720 but I feel like if we start talking 02:00.720 --> 02:04.150 right now , it's forced . So for our 02:04.150 --> 02:06.840 sake , for our team , my flight , we 02:06.840 --> 02:09.350 talk amongst each other every day , So 02:09.350 --> 02:11.628 it's organic . It doesn't feel like Oh , 02:11.628 --> 02:13.739 now you just want to talk to me about 02:13.739 --> 02:15.794 it , because this is happening . And 02:15.794 --> 02:17.906 this is what leadership was pushing . 02:17.906 --> 02:20.072 So I guess what would you recommend to 02:20.072 --> 02:22.950 make it feel more authentic ? Um , 02:24.600 --> 02:26.656 I guess that was my question for you 02:26.656 --> 02:28.767 guys and for everybody else . We will 02:28.767 --> 02:30.710 do our part toe push down 02:32.340 --> 02:36.230 are our emphasis on making sure we all 02:36.230 --> 02:38.397 feel valued . We're going to push that 02:38.397 --> 02:41.250 down , but it is how it on Lee 02:42.240 --> 02:44.290 works . If everybody else feels the 02:44.290 --> 02:47.960 same way and understands , or if we 02:47.960 --> 02:49.960 have various activities out there , 02:49.960 --> 02:52.127 they'll say why she was not be part of 02:52.127 --> 02:54.470 this organization because because it 02:54.470 --> 02:56.940 doesn't reflect what what I feel . And 02:56.940 --> 02:59.107 I'm good with that . I'm going because 02:59.230 --> 03:02.290 when I wanted everybody to feel value 03:02.620 --> 03:04.342 and if and then everybody else 03:04.342 --> 03:06.509 understands well , this is the This is 03:06.509 --> 03:08.453 the way we do business and the Air 03:08.453 --> 03:10.453 Force and having grown up in an Air 03:10.453 --> 03:12.398 Force family , I feel that that is 03:12.398 --> 03:14.620 gonna happen . But it only happens when 03:14.620 --> 03:14.400 this embraced out there . So that's 03:14.760 --> 03:16.871 that's what we're going to do . Let's 03:16.871 --> 03:19.350 hear from you . I was going to get out 03:19.520 --> 03:22.130 when my contract expired because there 03:22.130 --> 03:24.352 was no direction with my leadership . I 03:24.352 --> 03:26.730 had no guidance . And when I want to 03:26.730 --> 03:28.897 speak to my first sergeant about it to 03:28.897 --> 03:30.841 be completely candidate , it was a 03:30.841 --> 03:33.370 white male . Um , you know , I told him 03:33.370 --> 03:35.592 my concerns . And instead of talking to 03:35.592 --> 03:37.759 me about my concerns , he talked at me 03:37.759 --> 03:39.870 about everything that was going on in 03:39.870 --> 03:42.037 his life . And there was no result . A 03:42.037 --> 03:45.300 man , Um , I think I end up getting a 03:45.300 --> 03:47.244 new first sergeant who was a black 03:47.244 --> 03:49.467 woman , and she brought me in , and she 03:49.467 --> 03:51.467 talks to me like , Hey , Sergeant , 03:51.467 --> 03:53.467 that , you know Well , excuse me at 03:53.467 --> 03:52.790 that time , Amber McKnight . I hear 03:52.790 --> 03:55.060 great things about you . What are your 03:55.060 --> 03:57.060 plans for the future ? And like I'm 03:57.060 --> 03:59.171 getting out , I feel like I'm wasting 03:59.171 --> 04:01.060 my time . I had no prior military 04:01.060 --> 04:03.282 experience . Um , so it was really hard 04:03.282 --> 04:05.282 for me . And regardless , if you're 04:05.282 --> 04:07.393 getting paid her now , like , I never 04:07.393 --> 04:09.504 wanted to come in to anything feeling 04:09.504 --> 04:11.727 like I'm just wasting my time . Um , it 04:11.727 --> 04:13.949 was her who kind of put me on the right 04:13.949 --> 04:16.560 track and got to meet . I went to a 04:16.560 --> 04:19.810 male s became an seo , came back . Then 04:19.810 --> 04:21.699 there's a new commander , a black 04:21.699 --> 04:23.754 commander who took me under his wing 04:23.760 --> 04:25.871 and showed me different things of how 04:25.871 --> 04:28.610 to navigate my , um , Air Force career . 04:28.610 --> 04:30.930 So that allowed me to stay a man pass 04:30.930 --> 04:34.050 that knowledge on airman below me . 04:34.230 --> 04:37.320 However , there was no one up until 04:37.320 --> 04:39.230 recently in my new unit that was 04:39.240 --> 04:41.650 outside of my race that reached out to 04:41.650 --> 04:43.960 me to show me how to go and find these 04:43.960 --> 04:46.290 things to help myself because it's 04:46.290 --> 04:48.290 boring to you , especially when you 04:48.290 --> 04:50.490 have no active duty experience . Our 04:50.500 --> 04:53.370 organization has to be diverse , sit 04:53.370 --> 04:55.440 around a table and it's , you know , 04:55.450 --> 04:57.561 with all the general officers and you 04:57.561 --> 04:59.617 see a bunch of old white men and you 04:59.617 --> 05:01.672 just go Well , how much diversity of 05:01.672 --> 05:01.560 thought people we have in this group . 05:01.770 --> 05:04.200 How much diversity of how been thinking 05:04.200 --> 05:06.800 about things is really going on ? And 05:06.800 --> 05:08.967 who are young airman out there that it 05:08.967 --> 05:11.189 can look out and go ? You know what ? I 05:11.189 --> 05:13.300 can see myself being in that position 05:13.300 --> 05:16.020 because this person is like me . And if 05:16.020 --> 05:18.242 we don't create an environment where we 05:18.242 --> 05:20.131 have that , then we're gonna have 05:20.131 --> 05:22.187 people that think , um , obviously I 05:22.187 --> 05:24.520 can't get there because nobody liked me , 05:24.520 --> 05:26.570 is there . And so what we need is 05:26.750 --> 05:29.230 unsealed like you probably gonna be a 05:29.230 --> 05:31.730 senior issue if you keep this . You 05:31.730 --> 05:33.841 know , going Sounds like you're gonna 05:33.841 --> 05:37.190 do great um , we got you gotta be that 05:37.190 --> 05:39.600 mentor that helps bring those people up . 05:39.680 --> 05:41.847 You know , we climbed this ladder . We 05:41.847 --> 05:43.847 don't pull that ladder up . We push 05:43.847 --> 05:45.902 that lever down , try to bring other 05:45.902 --> 05:48.069 people up with us , and that's what we 05:48.069 --> 05:50.236 have to be able to do . I grew up in a 05:50.236 --> 05:53.030 low income household . Um , immigrant 05:53.030 --> 05:55.590 parents were Kearns are Mexican 05:55.590 --> 05:58.180 immigrants . Also went to school in a 05:58.180 --> 06:00.347 local in the public school , which was 06:00.347 --> 06:03.550 predominantly minorities . So , um , 06:04.480 --> 06:07.340 I kind of didn't pay much attention to 06:07.340 --> 06:09.720 the generalizations there of types 06:09.720 --> 06:12.020 because it was so normal to me . But 06:12.020 --> 06:15.980 then until I went to college and I took 06:15.980 --> 06:18.920 a sociology class , I started realizing 06:19.280 --> 06:21.900 that systematic racism exists than that . 06:22.120 --> 06:24.930 It's a cycle , and it's really hard to 06:24.930 --> 06:28.870 break , and also a lot put the 06:28.880 --> 06:31.730 privilege of going to college and 06:31.920 --> 06:34.190 educating themselves on matters like 06:34.200 --> 06:37.480 this . And , um , what I really 06:37.480 --> 06:41.080 see in the Air Force is a lot of people 06:41.080 --> 06:43.530 don't know . For example , they look at 06:43.530 --> 06:46.990 me and they see Ah , my skin . And 06:46.990 --> 06:49.101 they're like , Oh , you must be , you 06:49.101 --> 06:51.350 know , Mexican . And sometimes that 06:51.350 --> 06:53.128 irritates me a little bit . But 06:53.128 --> 06:56.460 sometimes I realized they don't know . 06:56.760 --> 06:59.700 So one thing I think can do in the Air 06:59.700 --> 07:01.920 Force engines or outside of the Air 07:01.920 --> 07:05.580 Force is to educate people . Um , 07:06.150 --> 07:08.750 I grew . I grew up speaking Spanish . 07:08.750 --> 07:11.510 Manage is my first language . But on my 07:11.510 --> 07:14.190 shop , I try to t to my co workers a 07:14.190 --> 07:16.790 little bit of Spanish every day . Um , 07:16.790 --> 07:20.770 I try to , you know , share some of my 07:20.770 --> 07:23.710 cultures of my tradition and little 07:23.710 --> 07:27.030 things like that . Um , also like to 07:27.030 --> 07:29.230 encourage others . Um , some of my 07:29.230 --> 07:31.240 sister's friends , My sister just 07:31.240 --> 07:34.000 graduated high school last week of some 07:34.000 --> 07:36.167 of her friends , you know , asked me . 07:36.167 --> 07:38.500 Hi . How do you like the Air Force ? Um , 07:38.500 --> 07:40.667 could you help me , You know , talk to 07:40.667 --> 07:42.889 the right people and I feel like that's 07:42.889 --> 07:45.840 one of our first steps . Is hoping 07:45.850 --> 07:48.700 others . Unfortunately for the black 07:48.700 --> 07:51.500 community that hit hard twice within 07:51.500 --> 07:53.833 the same week , one was , uh , you know , 07:53.833 --> 07:56.111 the George , the death of George fully . 07:56.111 --> 07:58.390 And then , of course , the inequalities 07:58.390 --> 08:00.750 and promotion with the Air Force . Um , 08:00.760 --> 08:02.871 And I remember the next morning I was 08:02.871 --> 08:04.750 going out and I was running and 08:05.200 --> 08:07.033 something within my own personal 08:07.033 --> 08:09.033 actions just kind of made me feel a 08:09.033 --> 08:11.200 certain way . And , you know , if your 08:11.200 --> 08:13.200 runner as you're running , you know 08:13.200 --> 08:15.256 that common courtesy is that kind of 08:15.256 --> 08:17.367 give ahead not or like , a peace sign 08:17.367 --> 08:19.533 to , you know , the oncoming runners . 08:19.533 --> 08:21.533 And unfortunately , that day I just 08:21.533 --> 08:23.700 didn't render those actions . And when 08:23.700 --> 08:25.922 I came home , I had the question myself 08:25.922 --> 08:28.440 on who I am as a person and tried to 08:28.440 --> 08:32.120 tell myself my actions make other 08:32.120 --> 08:34.700 people react a certain way to me . And 08:34.700 --> 08:36.922 I had to give myself permission to fill 08:36.922 --> 08:38.811 a certain way about what had just 08:38.811 --> 08:40.756 happened that week . I had to give 08:40.756 --> 08:42.978 myself permission to fill as a mother , 08:42.978 --> 08:45.240 as a wife , you know , to a mother of 08:45.240 --> 08:48.500 five black boys of a wife toe a black 08:48.510 --> 08:51.150 airman as well . I feel that it is okay 08:51.150 --> 08:54.090 to Phil . Pain is okay to be filled . 08:54.090 --> 08:56.770 Hurts . It is OK to feel tiredness of 08:56.770 --> 08:58.714 the things that continually happen 08:58.714 --> 09:00.770 within our society . I have no words 09:00.770 --> 09:02.770 for how awesome you are . That is , 09:02.790 --> 09:06.060 that is you should have my job , but 09:06.070 --> 09:09.150 you can't have my paycheck . The , uh , 09:09.160 --> 09:11.327 chief , I don't know what you said . I 09:14.030 --> 09:16.197 No , I like , Hey , I want to give you 09:16.197 --> 09:18.740 a virtual bumped for that because 09:19.330 --> 09:21.108 you're absolutely right . And I 09:21.108 --> 09:23.960 appreciate it . And so cheap mass 09:23.960 --> 09:26.210 started the Air Force chief , right is 09:26.210 --> 09:28.900 a personal friend of mine , and he 09:28.900 --> 09:32.510 dropped his is up into this . Uh , I 09:32.510 --> 09:34.621 mean , everybody across the air Force 09:34.621 --> 09:38.250 to to notice and , uh , you know what ? 09:38.700 --> 09:42.310 I am glad he did it . And and I am not 09:42.310 --> 09:44.532 stand behind what he did , because when 09:44.532 --> 09:47.070 you talk about the conversations and 09:47.070 --> 09:49.410 when he said the conversations , it 09:49.630 --> 09:52.910 forced us toe have the speeds 09:52.910 --> 09:55.021 conversations that we're having right 09:55.021 --> 09:57.950 now , they will push down . You lead up , 09:58.040 --> 10:00.262 we will meet in the middle until we get 10:00.262 --> 10:02.207 it right . We're going to continue 10:02.207 --> 10:04.429 efforts until we get it right , because 10:04.429 --> 10:06.484 its status report . So thank you for 10:06.484 --> 10:08.707 what you're doing . Thank you for being 10:08.707 --> 10:10.651 a part of our TV and thank you for 10:10.651 --> 10:13.470 being part of our family . And I love 10:13.470 --> 10:16.920 you all . And hopefully we can continue 10:16.920 --> 10:19.490 this dialogue and I'm looking forward 10:19.500 --> 10:22.450 to to seeing the changes that are gonna 10:22.460 --> 10:24.950 occur because you're going to make