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Ed Talk
The Third Reconstruction, Part 3?
June 21, 2021
Before there was a Juneteenth, before there was the First Emancipation Proclamation, before there was a need for a First Reconstruction, before even the nation’s founders encoded their ideals and flaws in the U.S. Constitution, there was Neptune Branch, my 5th-great grandfather.
Ed Talk
The Third Reconstruction, Part 2
January 28, 2021
I imagine what I will tell my grandchildren about the beginning of 2021 when the nation held its breath for nearly two weeks while the forces of who we are battled with those of who we want to be.
Ed Talk
Welcome to the Third Reconstruction
June 18, 2020
I am a Black man. A Harvard and Princeton educated Black man. One who has rubbed shoulders with the corporate elite for decades, pioneered as a venture capitalist for even longer and discussed the intricacies of national fiscal policy at the highest levels as a director of one of our nation’s leading Federal Reserve Banks.
Ed Talk
The Wisdom within a Minute
November 19, 2019
“You will live to regret it.” No one had ever said that to me before, nor would I ever expect it would come from the source it did. I was not having a conversation with a mob boss or a jilted lover.
Ed Talk
The Fierce Urgency of Now
July 17, 2019
Ever since Fathers’ Day I’ve been preoccupied with thoughts of my father. His life, his death and the sage advice he gave me as he prepared to die. Advice that one would rather not hear, if not receiving it could stave off his death. But it could not, so it was delivered, as if from generations of fathers who deeply knew adversity, lived with deferred dreams and wanted better for their sons.
Ed Talk
The Gift of Black History
February 25, 2019
Reflecting on Black History this month I wondered, “What do most Americans know about the people we call Black? The rise and fall and rise again of a people whose American roots are as deep and strong as any of America’s earliest Anglo immigrants? Why their history provides fundamental insights into our most persistent social and economic ills today?”
Ed Talk
Why?
December 3, 2018
When I was very young, I regularly tested my parent’s patience with the question, “Why?” Perhaps you did too. And perhaps as you grew older, like me, the eye-opening beauty of the question was gradually tamed by the essence of most answers: “Why not?”
Ed Talk
Build a Bridge; Do It For You
September 7, 2018
To my sista, Aretha Franklin: Thank you for being my musical bridge over troubled waters. You will be missed. Did you feel at an early age that you knew what you were destined to be?
Ed Talk
Take the Leap. The Water is Fine
May 14, 2018
Tom Lee called me out of the blue one day. Founder of T. H. Lee Partners and a leading private equity guy riding high on many recent successes, Tom was an outgoing, likable, yet no-nonsense kind of person who didn’t make a practice of calling me just to chat. So I was always curious to know what he had on his mind.
Ed Talk
A Call for Radical Inclusion
April 2, 2018
I did not see that coming. Before I knew it I was sobbing, sometimes uncontrollably, for the next two hours. I had sat down to watch the March for Our Lives on TV, not expecting to watch for more than a short while, not prepared to see or experience anything new, not willing to have what I saw sway me one way or another.
Ed Talk
Celebrating Our Worthiness
February 15, 2018
When Sam Cooke wrote these lyrics in 1964 to his popular song, A Change is Gonna Come, there was no Black History Month that provided an annual moment in time to reflect on a people’s journey within our American story. We were in the midst of a surging Civil Rights Movement
Ed Talk
Return on Inclusion: Priceless
November 9, 2017
I think about the destiny of America a lot these days. Do you?