Consciousness

“Consciousness” means to be aware, full of care, mindful. Inclusion most certainly breeds consciousness – just ask Jim Leonard and he’ll likely respond with a story about his son, Matty and his experience attending Morehouse College. Morehouse is one of the most well-known and respected historically black colleges in the country. It is known for its scholarship and service and is self-branded as “the college of choice for black men.”

While playing college ball in New York City, Matty was recruited by Morehouse to play basketball. His former teammate from Grady High School, Tyrese (who went on to play in the NBA for the New Jersey Nets!), convinced his coach to bring Matty home to Atlanta because they needed a strong point guard.

He transferred to Morehouse at the start of his junior year.

Accepting positioned Matty as the only white student in a class of more than 450 young black men and consequently, subjected him and his family to the realities of being a minority (indeed, an “only”), in a majority environment.

Jim recalls an instance when his son was attempting to attend a school party with his teammates. He was not allowed to enter because of the color of his skin. In a deliberate show of consciousness (caring that is), Matty’s teammates responded by declaring (amidst a few “choice words” here and there), that if Matty was not welcome, they were not attending either and then as a team, they all left.

In the last semester of his senior year, Matty was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma in his chest, kidneys, pancreas, and multiple lymph nodes. Matty’s teammates were there once again (this time along with the entire Morehouse community), praying and otherwise supporting the entire family.

His teammates and Morehouse brothers helped carry Matty through his classes while he was undergoing intense, inpatient chemotherapy. Jim says those prayers – that extravagant support – were critical to Matty’s full recovery. They never stopped caring for him. He remains cancer-free today.

Jim says that he was reminded of Matty’s experience at Morehouse while attending the firm’s diversity, inclusion and equity training this past fall. The facilitator opined that true inclusion manifests when we begin to “care about what we don’t have to care about.” She was championing consciousness.

“We had a lot of Morehouse folks step up. And when someone didn’t seem to like us being there simply because of the color of our skin, because they knew us, those folks spoke up,” Jim said. “Their voices made all the difference in the world to Matty and to our family.” Sounds like our facilitator was on to something.