Twenty years ago, Marcus Gause and Erik Naglee were carpooling from Greensboro to UNC-Chapel Hill several days a week as they worked on advanced degrees in education. A random traffic stop highlighted how race impacted their experience of the world and that awareness led to honest conversations about race and other differences.
Today, Gause is principal at Andrews High and Naglee is principal at Page High School. Years of experience as educators and a deep friendship sparked them to start Greyt Expectations, an initiative to create safe spaces for real conversations about race. “We all understand that there’s Black and white,” Gause says. “But there’s also grey, and together black and white make grey. If we can come in with the mindset of grey, it allows us to understand and be open-minded to receive information from the Black, the white, and whoever else may be a part of the conversations.”
GEA is excited to partner with Greyt Expectations in a series of 4 podcast episodes as part of GEA’s Bright Futures podcast. Click on the links below to listen!
It started with a traffic stop. Two friends. One Black. One white. Both educators and good friends. During a random traffic stop, they saw how differently they were treated and a door opened up to have real conversations about race. The result is Greyt Expectations, an initiative started by Andrews High School Principal Marcus Gause and Page High School Principal Erik Naglee. In this episode, learn more about their work to create safe spaces for real conversations about race and other differences.
By the age of 21, Bilal Issifou had graduated from N.C. A&T State University, started his own successful tech company and been featured in Forbes magazine.
In this episode, Marcus Gause and Erik Naglee sit down with Issifou to talk about Unchained Inc. – Issifou’s platform for Black professionals, code switching and what companies are getting wrong when they focus on diversity.
In 2011, Wake Forest baseball coach Tom Walter saved the life of freshman Kevin Jordan by donating a kidney to the young baseball recruit. Tom is white. Kevin is Black. The incredible act of generosity made the national news. In the lives of the two men, it connected them in more ways than they could ever imagine. In part 1, Marcus Gause and Erik Naglee talk with Tom and Kevin their story and what led them to create Get in the Game, an initiative that uses sports to change real-world inequities.
Ep. 11: Get in the Game, Part 2
Marcus Gause and Erik Naglee continue their conversation with Wake Forest baseball coach Tom Walter and Kevin Jordan, the young man to whom he donated a kidney. Tom and Kevin explore how sports can level the playing field and why this generation of young people give them hope.
It’s an inspiring conversation!