Racial Justice Can’t Come Soon Enough for our Nation

The story of police brutality towards George Floyd is heartbreaking.  And the worst part of this story is just how many stories have come before it.  With the rise of smart phones, many of us now see a glimpse of what policing is like for Black men in America and it’s appalling.  Enough is enough!  We can and will use our voice to repeat that message until change is achieved.

The racial justice that tens of millions of us are calling for must also be reinforced by economic justice and inclusion for people of color.  Our country has a brazen history of denying economic opportunity to African Americans, and tragically it still continues today.  The average wealth of a white family is seven times that of a black family and the economic discrimination towards black men leads to a loss of $900,000 in lifetime earnings.  We may not be in positions of leadership to bring about the immediate justice reforms so desperately needed in our country, but all of us can take immediate action in our places of work to create more equitable economic opportunity for people of color.  Such as:

• Invest in Black owned businesses. They currently only receive 2% of VC capital.
• Support workforce training and workplace experiences, especially for young people of color.
• Support existing leaders of color, by bringing them into your pitches, partnering on RFPs, etc.
• Use your company’s procurement dollars to invest in diverse vendors and contractors.
• Hire diverse talent, especially at leadership levels.
• Consider deeply your promotion decisions and identify ways you or your company may be overlooking people of color.
• Analyze the salaries of each of your team members and check for ways people of color may be discriminated.
• And the list goes on…

The start of 2020 has been unlike anything in our lifetimes, but I am hopeful that now, more than ever, our nation will come together to tackle these deeply entrenched inequities and create economic opportunity and prosperity for people of color.

Sincerely,

M. Yasmina McCarty, NGIN CEO & President