In an effort to gain some perspective, the founders of Charlotte-based Clean Juice, invited three black employees to join it's "Be Organic" podcast to discuss not only how they were feeling during these unprecedented times but also what white people could do to help.

The racial tension and protest sparked by the murder of George Floyd have opened many people's eyes to the injustices still suffered by AfricanAmericans, and Clean Juice owners Kat and Landon Eckles wanted to understand how they could be a part of stopping the cycle of racism.

"Ultimately, our biggest hope for Clean Juice is that it is a brand that breeds unity," Kat said during an interview with FastCasual. "That's the word that has seemed to keep coming up in our hearts and conversations over the last few weeks. We know that unity is God's heart for his children. We just want to continue to play a small part with our little corner of the world to help shine a light in the darkness."

In an effort to gain some perspective, the couple, which owns the chain based in Charlotte,invited three black employees to join it's "Be Organic" podcast last week to discuss not only how they were feeling during these unprecedented times but also what white people could do to help.

"We are not African American, so we can't really understand everything that's going on from that perspective," Landon Eckles said during the podcast. "There are certain things we have never had to deal with."

Dion Beary, a black marketing manager, who works in the corporate office in downtown Charlotte, where protests have been prevalent, said he's found it hard to fall asleep to the sound of helicopters each night and wake up to the news, images and debate surrounding everything.

"Heavy's the word for it, for sure," he said. "It feels like there's quite a lot on your shoulders. "Finding pockets of the day to compartmentalize and pockets of the day to feel normal and feel fun and feel like you have the right to enjoy life is paramount for me to do and also kind of difficult to do."

Mikal Davis, a black general manager of a Clean Juice location in Charlotte, agreed, saying that the heaviness is coming from a lack of love in general.

"I think it's just because emotions are high and stuff like that, and people are reacting from emotion, maybe not exactly what they want to believe from their heart," he said.

Although the last several weeks have also been difficult for Kim Burrows, a black franchise owner in Atlanta, she said people are finally recognizing that there is still a racism problem in America. Personally, she's felt a change when it comes to shifting, a term she said African American women use to describe the double lives they must lead.

"One life in sort of corporate America or work America, and the other life when they get home," she said.

Kat Eckles wanted to learn more about shifting, so Burrows went on to describe it as how black people often feel forced to wear a mask to deal privately with their pain.

"I think that part of that, to be perfectly honest, is caused by the fact that when we come into our work environments, it's not talked about," Burrows said. "Whatever is happening on the news, whatever is happening that might be traumatic, it's not talked about; it's not acknowledged; it's not thought of, and so it's almost as if it didn't even happen."

Over the course of time, black people have been silently carrying that stress, trepidation and rage, Burrows said.

"I think what you've seen over the past couple of weeks is it's just reached a boiling point," she said. "And we don't have the work to do. It's the collective America; it's white American; it's those in power that really have the work to do.

"It starts with us in saying We are hurting,' but the acknowledgment has to be a little bit broader to say We are willing to help heal. We are willing to help this nation heal. We are willing to help repeal some of the bad laws that have put us in this place. We are willing to start changing the behavior.'"

Burrows believes that black Americans can start healing when they start seeing those changes and that will allow people to start having the conversations to help move the country forward.

"But (racism) is so pervasive throughout America that it's not just the criminal justice system; it's not just health. It's literally everything," she said. "It's all of the messages that black America receives even when they're little children and their ability to see themselves in success.

For example, although Burrows attended a historically black college in the 90s, she said there were 10 women for every black man.

"That is deeply rooted in the criminal justice system and the over-incarceration of African American men," she said. "It's happened for hundreds of years, and right now, we are seeing the fruits of all of those things."

Beary has had a similar experience when it comes to shifting, recalling that when he was eight years old, his father told him he would have to be twice as good to get half as far.

"Is that functionally true every single time, I don't know, but it's what I was taught and what I internalized. And when you walk into offices or walk into the rest of America, it really feels like you have to shift away from that; you have to hide it," he said.

What's so different about this moment, according to both Beary and Burrows, is that they finally feel like it's OK to express their pain, anger and fear.

"Not because we suddenly feel any more welcome to it, but because it has boiled over," Beary said. "Maybe it was because we were all sitting at home and couldn't go anywhere when the news about Ahmaud Arbery was breaking and the video of George Floyd. Something about it this time just feels different. It feels like there's no longer that wall we used to have between our office life and black life.

There's no longer a wall between chats with his coworkers and those he has with his family.

"These things are coming together for the good of us all," Beary said. "Were all deciding that we are no longer going to hold in what those conversations have been, and people are now more welcome to hear about it."

Moving forward together

Landon Eckles believes that sharing experiences and showing empathy toward one another is the only path forward.

"We have to be empathetic with each other," he said during the podcast. "I have to be empathetic with the fact that you might be feeling things that I just can't feel, that you may need time to adjust, and that's totally OK."

Realizing that people face different situations is also key.

"We can't possibly know each other's situation until we do things like this, where we talk about them and where we really just embrace each other and understand that we don't understand everything, and sometimes we are just blind to certain things because we don't go through them so we just don't know," he said. "And that's OK, but conversations like this allow us to open that door to see each other's perspectives."

Kat told FastCasual that she was passionate about creating a culture where racism can't exist and said other companies can do their parts as well by hosting diversity and inclusion training and looking at organizations in which to donate time and resources.

"Our company takes pride in our biblically based core values, which include things like'God is in us and using us in all that we do' and we are all an equally important piece of the puzzle,'" Kat said. "We've talked about issues like racism during our franchise partner video calls and home office Monday morning meetings and given all employees a chance to say what they are seeing and feeling. We aren't perfect and we are learning as we go too, but in simplest terms we know if we can always bring it back to the golden rule (treat others as you'd want to be treated) we are off to a good start."

Beary said it's also up to people to hold one another accountable when they hear racist or sexist language. For example, he said if he has a male friend who makes a sexist comment and he doesn't call him out on it, he is silently giving his approval of treating women with a lack of respect.

"Even though it's not direct approval, where I didn't agree with what he said, he has now interpreted approval from me," he said. "I think the same thing can often occur amongst white people and amongst people of all different kinds of races. When when you hear things that are racist, you offer approval when you say I'm not going to engage with that.'"

He urged people to speak up when they find themselves in those situations.

"For people who are allies, people who are against racism, one thing they can really help us do is to no longer give silence as approval of the racially insensitive things that they hear throughout their days," Beary said.

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Clean Juice taps black employees to address pandemic of race - Fast Casual