This week marks the ninth week of protests across the country as demonstrators demand tangible changes to the racial divides that have plagued the U.S. since its inception. Along with calls for equality have been calls to defund police, who are often seen as enforcing laws unequally.
However, Pastor Miles McPherson said accepting people's differences needs to be the goal, rather than choosing sides, like pro- or anti-police.
The NFL player-turned-pastor's 2018 book The Third Option: Hope For a Racially Divided Nation has regained national attention as people look for ways to sort through ethnic, racial, and other cultural differences that are tearing at the seams of America's social stability.
"The third option, which is what the book is about: how do we honor and give value to what we have in common? We have more similarities than differences," McPherson told Cheddar.
McPherson, the pastor of Rock Church in San Diego, California, said that there are ways for people to avoid offensive "blind spots" they may have in order to improve relations among people with varying backgrounds.
"If we can come to the table and talk about the things that we agree on, start with those things versus focusing on the differences we have, we can make more headway," he explained.
Racial division in America is practically embedded in the genetic makeup of the country, but for McPherson, the path to understanding isn't in avoiding differences but embracing and respecting them.
"If you have people in your life that are of a different ethnicity than you, different culture, the best thing to do is to sit down and ask if there are things about you that are offensive that you don't know about," he said.
For McPherson, the father and son of police officers, improving relationships between communities and police departments is also important because he understands how mischaracterizations based on job association or racial makeup can cause even more division.
"I think it's very important for us to not categorize a group of people as all bad or all good," he said. "There are good cops and bad cops."
Perhaps the most critical point for social progression in America, according to McPherson, is allowing people to "make mistakes" as we're "all on a journey" to understanding and accepting our differences.
"If we can give each other that grace, we can get further down the road," he said.
Cheddar sits down with Vivian Young, Head of Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs at JPMorgan Chase, at JPMorgan Chase's Women on the Move Leadership Day to discuss her experience being the first person to hold this type of position at the firm, and how she's forging a path forward for the API community.
Cheddar sits down with Tiffany Yu, CEO and Founder of Diversability, at JPMorgan Chase's Women on the Move Leadership Day to discuss how she's building up a global movement to rebrand disability through the power of community.
Kim Perell, Author of 'JUMP: Dare to Do What Scares You in Business and Life,' joins ChedHER to discuss the different types of career 'jumps' out there, and the keys to making a career change a success.
A Freitag pod with Carlo and Baker, talking about the upcoming federal vax-or-test deadline, the most shocking upset of this week's elections, an incredible story of selflessness and Love, Hate, Ate.
The largest car search platform in India, Cardekho, recently raised $250 million in what the company calls a pre-IPO round led by leapfrog investments. The funding bumps CarDekho above unicorn status with a $1.2 billion valuation. The company currently has a catalogue of more than 3,000 pre-owned cars for online purchases and hopes to expand with the new funding. Partner and co-head of South Asian investment for LeapFrog Stewart Langdon joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Actor Jade Wu joined Cheddar's "Between Bells" to discuss her role in the recently premiered film "Snakehead" and its depiction of organized crime in New York City's Chinatown. Wu also talked about the iconic place becoming its own character in the film and what it meant to shoot scenes on location. Discussing her career, she noted the significance of being part of a nearly all-Asian cast compared to often being the lone Asian actor on projects.
Thuc Vu, CEO and co-founder of Ohmnilabs, joins 'Cheddar Innovates' to discuss how robots are playing a role in the return to the office, and what's in store for the future of the robotics industry.
Jordan Bem, Founder and CEO of Moliving, joins 'Cheddar Innovates' to discuss how it's creating a mobile, flexible model of hotel rooms to help hotels keep up with seasonal demand, and how its models are made with sustainability in mind.
