{"635918":{"#nid":"635918","#data":{"type":"news","title":"A Personal Reflection From Dean of Computing Charles Isbell","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026rsquo;ve thought a lot about it since, but at the time all I could think was: \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s a really big gun.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI was at a capital-T Traffic Stop somewhere outside of Cambridge, MA. A police officer was approaching me on the driver\u0026rsquo;s side and for some reason, he went for his gun and yelled at me to be still. I got\u0026hellip; stiller\u0026hellip; and eventually, it was all over and I drove away.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOnly later, while trying to calm down my friends did I think, \u0026ldquo;He could have killed me\u0026rdquo;.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026rsquo;m not sure exactly when that changed to \u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;and he would have gotten away with it\u0026rdquo;. I think it was April 29, 1992. That was a day much like the days we\u0026rsquo;re experiencing now.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the many years since my thoughts have returned to that night. They became \u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;and would anyone have heard about it?\u0026rdquo; They became, \u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;and if they did what would they have heard?\u0026rdquo; Would the reports say I led a high-speed chase? Would the pundits say that if only I\u0026rsquo;d complied, I\u0026rsquo;d be alive? What would they have dredged up? Maybe somehow that time in seventh grade when I checked out\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EAre You There God? It\u0026#39;s Me, Margaret\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;from the library would be held against me.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI don\u0026rsquo;t know, but it would have been something, and it would be like dying twice.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s not always the Traffic Stop. Sometimes I think about the time that guy in the pickup truck spit on me, or the confrontation with the police while I was house hunting. A few weeks ago, I was sitting on a curb in my embarrassingly sprawling neighborhood and someone in a truck drove by, stopped maybe 40 yards away, backed up and stared at me for five or six seconds, then left. \u0026ldquo;What was that about? What\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Ecould\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;it have been about?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy son is 12, all arms and legs. Studies tell me that when he walks down the street, he\u0026rsquo;ll be more likely mistaken for 16. His 12-year old movements will be threatening. I know: I\u0026rsquo;ve already had that conversation with teachers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYesterday, I sat in my car with him and we talked about what\u0026rsquo;s going on, and this is neither the first nor second such conversation. He doesn\u0026rsquo;t quite believe what\u0026rsquo;s happening, but he believes it more every time we have this conversation. I know he\u0026rsquo;ll believe it more the next time we are here, the next time someone utters a racial epithet around him. This is a reality I went through, and I know it\u0026rsquo;s a reality he\u0026rsquo;ll go through.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy thoughts nowadays are more about him. He\u0026rsquo;s one candy bar away from \u0026ldquo;Gun!\u0026rdquo; and being shot. He\u0026rsquo;s a moment away from \u0026ldquo;He should have complied\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;He was no saint\u0026rdquo; and whatever else they would say. It wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be true, not this boy who interrupts my meetings to hug me and ask me if he can have apple juice, but I know it would be said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOf course, I think about other things. In so many ways, my life is great\u0026hellip; and I have a lot to do, so I go back to the business of getting through my life and resigning myself to the fact that I really do have to do my taxes this weekend.\u0026nbsp; But the thoughts always come back.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYou know what I\u0026rsquo;m thinking now? As I write this, I\u0026rsquo;m sitting in my office and I\u0026rsquo;m looking out at my city. I can see the campus, I can see midtown and downtown, buildings poking out above all the many trees. But I don\u0026rsquo;t see smoke. I don\u0026rsquo;t see broken windows. I don\u0026rsquo;t see all the stories out there. I know that right over there two college kids from Spelman and Morehouse were dragged from their car and tased during the demonstrations this weekend, and I\u0026rsquo;m sure there are other stories, and some of them probably ended even worse. I know most of them were never recorded, never noted by the public.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI don\u0026rsquo;t see your story either, but I know you have one. We all do. That\u0026rsquo;s mostly what I think about at times like these. Everyone has a story. I may not see yours any more than you see mine, but I know you have one.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the end, it\u0026rsquo;s what binds us together. We all have stories and as often as not they are similar in some important way. It\u0026rsquo;s how we know we are human together.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd when they are different? Well, that\u0026rsquo;s even more important. Those differences also tell us about each other, even when they are so different that they seem hard to imagine.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEither way, these stories make us the community we are. It is, simply, fundamentally true. And when we realize it, we can change things. It really doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to be the way it\u0026rsquo;s always been. We can make it better as a community. In fact, we must.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELook, it\u0026rsquo;s been a long few weeks, and a very long weekend. Please, stay safe. I\u0026rsquo;d like to hear you tell your story one day.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPeace.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n--\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCharles L. Isbell, Jr.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJohn P. Imlay, Jr. Dean\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDon\u0026#39;t just adopt opinions, \u0026nbsp;develop them.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Inspired by recent events, Georgia Tech Dean of Computing Charles Isbell recounts his personal experience as an African American and shares a bit about what binds us together."}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2020-06-02 23:41:46","changed_gmt":"2020-06-03 16:43:58","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-06-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2020-06-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"622871":{"id":"622871","type":"image","title":"Charles Isbell, John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of Computing_seated","body":null,"created":"1561986721","gmt_created":"2019-07-01 13:12:01","changed":"1561986721","gmt_changed":"2019-07-01 13:12:01","alt":"Charles Isbell John P Imlay Jr Dean of Computing","file":{"fid":"237214","name":"Charles_Isbell_John P Imlay Jr Dean of Computing_informal_July2019.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Charles_Isbell_John%20P%20Imlay%20Jr%20Dean%20of%20Computing_informal_July2019.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Charles_Isbell_John%20P%20Imlay%20Jr%20Dean%20of%20Computing_informal_July2019.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1010357,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Charles_Isbell_John%20P%20Imlay%20Jr%20Dean%20of%20Computing_informal_July2019.jpg?itok=TNqP9Yha"}}},"media_ids":["622871"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAnn Claycombe, Communications Director\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:ann.claycombe@cc.gatech.edu?subject=Isbell%20Message\u0022\u003Eann.claycombe@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["ann.claycombe@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}