Technical.ly On the Record: The push for racial equity must continue past this summer

It’s been nearly three months since George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed in Minneapolis by police. Three months since mass protests broke out across the country declaring “Black Lives Matter” and decrying systemic racism. For many, June felt like a turning point for criminal justice policy and race relations in the U.S.

But three months later, it might be hard to know how to keep that momentum for progress going.

In the sixth episode of Technical.ly On the Record, our interview series taking you inside the reporter’s virtual notebook to explore local economies in change, this editor chatted with Alex Galiani. Technical.ly’s business development manager for Baltimore and D.C. has written a pair of first-person essays on race and social change that are sparking conversation.

In the first, “Navigating the two worlds of Baltimore,” published June 17, Galiani reflected on his own experiences as a biracial kid growing up in Charm City and called for continuing the pressure to change the status quo. In Aug. 11’s “Demand better: The conversation continues as we take action for racial equity in Baltimore,” he offered advice to those asking questions such as “What do I have to add to the conversation?” and “How do I talk to my children about what’s going on?”

“An opportunity for change has been laid before us all,” he says. “The only prerequisite required is a belief in ourselves that we have a role to play.”

Galiani’s writing is both extremely personal, and captures a collective moment. Please, do yourself a favor and read both essays, no matter what perspective you take in the fight for racial equity. Then listen to our conversation below about what inspired him to write and why he centered Baltimore, as well as some of the most impactful responses he got from “nonracists, antiracists, racists and everyone in between.”

Here’s the audio version:

And here’s the video recap:

Reminder that in Technical.ly On the Record, you can expect to hear the why, how and what’s next of each featured topic from the Technical.ly reporter who wrote about it.

Here are some other big stories we published over the past week:

• COVID-19 is exacerbating social isolation. Video chat startup OneClick.chat is researching it (Philly)
• The DC area ranks #1 nationally in tech office leasing for Q2 (DC)
• What this Wesley College survey says about virtual education and mental health amid COVID-19 (Delaware)
• Checking in with RealLIST Startups: How 16 early-stage Baltimore companies are navigating 2020 (Baltimore)
• Maps galore: Here’s where PPP funding went in Philly, Baltimore, DC, Delaware and Pittsburgh (National)