- A m an who has made bridging
gaps and bringing communities
together his life's work
describes the protests and
riots as the voices of those
who are fed up around the
country.
Who are marginalized on their
jobs, priced out of their
neighborhoods, overcharged
for payday loans and
overpoliced.
Michael Johnson, president and
CEO of the Boys and Girls
Club of Dane County, joins
us now. And thanks very much
for being here.
- Thank you for having me on.
- So you called what happened
to George Floyd a
modern day lynching.
Describe how this feels for you
and the communities you serve.
- You know when I saw it, I
was at a grocery store
with my wife.
And me and my wife, we met at
the University of Minnesota.
We went to school at the
University of Minnesota.
I played football at the
University of Minnesota.
Our family that live
in the southern part of
Minneapolis.
So when I was-- when I saw
it, I immediately broke
down in tears.
I was devastated by what I
what I saw.
I watched my wife come home
and watch, you know, seeing me.
And watched her break down in
tears.
And so what we saw
was-- it was devastating.
It was heartbreaking.
And to know that we live in
2020
and that these kinds of things
continue to happen
to people who look like
me. Just it's, just not
acceptable.
- There's been a lot of talk on
this program and others about
the use of force protocol
for police officers.
But in your mind, is what
happened in Minneapolis the
symptom of something
much deeper?
- Yeah, I think we do have
systemic racism
in our country
that we have to
not only address.
We talk a lot about racial
disparities.
We talk about systemic
racism, but what we don't
do as country is make
the appropriate investment
to address systemic racism.
You can only address systemic
racism as if you make
it a financial
priority.
A lot of times if you look at
local municipalities, they talk
about it.
And they were you look at their
municipal budget,
it just doesn't align with the
plans.
- So what kinds of funds
should they be putting
toward things in municipal
budgets?
- I mean, you look at, you
know, Wisconsin, I love
this state.
I've lived here for 10 years,
but we've been talking about
racial disparities
for 50 years
and the fact that we have
African-American kids and other
kids of color that graduate
at the same rates their
white counterparts
is is a symptom
of the lack of investment that
we've placed in our schools.
And so that's an issue within
itself.
And then when you look at the
health disparities and the lack
of resources for
African-American families
and other families
of color, it's
fundamentally-- it's the
kind of financial support
that's needed is not there.
And a lot of times,
agencies that are led by people
who look like me don't
necessarily get the
financial support to be
able to do this work
at all different levels
across the spectrum.
- And so would you describe
that as systemic,
institutionalized racism?
- I would say when you look
at-- just go
look at the board of
directors of our
large companies here.
Look at the C suites of
people who are in the CEO,
the COO and the
CFO seats.
Look at the managers of most
of the organizations that
run the corporations, you
know, in our state.
Look at our nonprofit leaders.
And so when you don't have
diversity and inclusion,
that's a form of systemic
racism.
When you look at the inadequate
funding opportunities to
address these issues,
that's a form of systemic
racism.
And so those are the challenges
that we see.
You know, not only in Wisconsin
but across the country
that we have to begin to
address or what'll happen
we'll be talking about these
issues 15,
20 years from now because
we have not made the
appropriate investments.
We have not come up with the
appropriate vision
and the priorities to support
eradicating these issues
that address our community.
- Protests and rallies
have happened across the
country and here at home.
As you know, some have turned
violent. Some organizers are
unapologetic about that.
Whereas you call for peaceful
protests and you're even
readying to to hire like
75 peacekeepers.
What will they do?
- Yeah. So one of the things I was concerned
about, you know, immediately
when I saw
the protests that happen in
Madison started out very
peaceful. It was beautiful.
You saw black people,
white people, young people,
gay, straight, the LGBT
community. It was a beautiful
day.
Now they're getting a phone
call from the mayor while I was
out riding my bike asking for
support and I couldn't
believe what I was seeing.
I saw outside agitators.
I saw people influencing
young people to break into
businesses.
And it's unacceptable.
We should never, ever
utilize the name of somebody
that was killed to promote
criminal activity.
So I decided to
hire 75 peacekeepers
who would be there to support
the protesters.
To be there to offer water.
To be there if there's
an emergency
issue to be able to call
E.M.S.
workers, but also
serve as a liaison if somebody
is doing something
that's going to agitate
and create
a unhealthy environment.
We want to be there to
de-escalate those kinds of
issues.
Let me say this, too.
I'm sorry. Let me say this,
too, that we've been talking
to the police department.
Our protest here in Madison
has been peaceful the last two
nights.
We asked the police chief to
de-militarize
his police force.
He listened.
And I think because of that and
because we have adults out
there that want
a healthy environment,
it has been very, very peaceful
the last two days.
- With just about a minute
left, what is your hope as
we move forward from
this?
- I'm hoping that
that what happened to George
Floyd never happens again.
What happened to Eric Garner in
New York never happens again.
I hope that we began to
really not only talk
about diversity and inclusion,
but we act it out.
I hope as a state and as a
nation that we make
a priority people who live
in marginalized communities.
What you see in our country is
a lot of built up anger
from folks who have been
marginalized.
And it's going to take people
that look like you and people
that look like me and people
who have influence to
help change these critical
issues that impact
our country.
- We leave it there.
Michael Johnson, thank you very
much for joining us.
- Thank you for having me.