Amplifying the Voices of Others

At a time like this, I am particularly thankful that Dan and I have this forum to communicate directly and personally to the division. Not via a “To All” from our Division Head mailbox, but real and direct communication, from us and from our hearts.  

However, this week, we don’t want you to hear from us. We want you to hear the powerful stories that our black colleagues have shared this week. We want to give a spotlight to their voices and amplify their messages through our platform.  

We hope you all watched Wednesday’s Firmwide Town Hall, and listened to the stories of Asahi Pompey, Margaret Anadu and Earl Hunt. And Thursday’s Town Hall hosted by the Firmwide Black Network that featured Lisa Opoku, Sean Legister, Leke Osinubi, Margaret Anadu and Kene Ejikemi. If you haven’t, go back and watch them. 

We hope you read Fred Baba’s potent email, which has since been published by Bloomberg for the world to see. If you haven’t, go read it. (https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-06-05/goldman-sachs-executive-has-advice-for-white-colleagues)

We praise the courage of our colleagues for sharing their stories, for letting down their guard and for allowing the rest of a glimpse into their reality. Both Dan and I had countless conversations this week with colleagues, in groups and one-on-one, and received a wave of emails sharing experiences and advice.

We learned of the experience of our colleague Lekan Lawal having a gun pulled on him by police, having his face slammed to the curb, then being thrown against the side of the police car before being taken away....FROM HIS DRIVEWAY IN HIS SUBURBAN HOUSE WITH HIS WIFE AND FOUR YOUNG CHILDREN WATCHING ON IN HORROR.

We learned of the experience of our colleague Fred Baba being slammed against the hood of a police car in Chicago while walking home from a rec league dodge ball game...his apparent transgression being “walking while black”.

We learned of our colleague Margaret Anadu being pulled over by police with her boyfriend while in high school and having guns thrust against their heads. 

We also learned from Margaret about “false distances” and the fallacy that what happened to George Floyd couldn’t also happen to Earl Hunt just because he is a partner at Goldman Sachs.

We learned from our colleague Kene Ejikemi about “microaggressions” – the steady cuts he faces throughout his day from the taxi with the light on passing him by, to the woman on the street switching her purse to the other side when he walks by, to the parents on the tube pulling their children just a bit closer when he steps on. 

We learned from our colleagues Asahi Pompey and Lisa Opoku about “The Talk” that black parents have to give their young sons that “there will be a day when they will have to stop wearing hoodies, and there will be a day when they will approach someone to ask for directions and sense unease, and there will be a day when they will be eyed with suspicion by a store clerk when they enter a store and there will be a day when they are stopped by the police for no reason other than the color of their skin”. 

Beyond just their experiences, we heard their emotions. 

Our colleague Margaret Anadu’s justifiable “absolute, unadulterated rage” at watching someone “who could be my son, my husband, my friend, your friend, be clearly murdered in the street in broad daylight”.

Our colleague Earl Hunt’s “real and raw emotions” of “disgust and anger” at what has been happening over the past few weeks. 

Our colleague Leke Osinubi’s “frustration and exhaustion” as he watched the excruciating 8 minutes and 46 seconds of George Floyd’s suffering and the tragic symbolism of that officer’s knee being representative of the knee that has “been on the necks of black males and females by the simple product of their just being.” 

Our colleague Sean Legister being “terrified” as watched as Amy Cooper weaponized race and realized that in a parallel universe of an “Amy Cooper’s” word against his....he loses. 

This is what our colleagues are feeling. These are their experiences. This is their reality. This is what they are dealing with right now.

There is a Medium post by Shenequa Golding entitled “Maintaining Professionalism In the Age of Black Death Is....A Lot”. The opening line reads “I just witnessed the lynching of a black man, but don’t worry Ted, I’ll have those deliverables to you end of day.” How can you focus on work at a time like this? Hell, I share that feeling and can only imagine how our black colleagues are feeling. I have heard the same from many of you. The post goes on to tell us “Your black employees are exhausted. Your black employees are scared. Your black employees are crying in between meetings. Your black employees have mentally checked out.  Your black employees are putting on a performance. Forgive us if our work isn’t up to par, we just saw a lynching.”

For those of you that feel that way, please take time off if you need it. You wouldn’t hesitate to do so if you were sick. Or if a close relative died. So why hesitate now. Take the time you need.  To grieve. To decompress. To protest.  

So many of us have asked “What can I do?”...there is a lot. 

Educate yourselves. Listen to your black friends and colleagues. Be an ally.

The firm sent out an email Friday night with lots of helpful tips...it’s really good. Use it as a resource.

Fred Baba finished his email with his advice on that question:

-      Reach out and support diverse analysts and associates (“I’ll be okay; look after them”)

-      Donate money to advocacy organizations

-      Donate time to same

-      Support minority-owned businesses

Let us share what we have done.

We have tried to reach out and listen. And had amazing conversations. And been blown away by the courage of our colleagues sharing their stories.

Yet not every conversation is an ABC Afterschool Special that ends with everyone holding hands and singing Kumbaya. And you know what...that’s ok.

Sometimes our outreach was met with “I just can’t talk to another well-intentioned white guy about this right now”. Totally fair.  

I was rightly admonished by an assistant I have known for a long-time about not having reached out to her. When I called to speak with her banker, she let me have it. “I thought you were different Gregg Lemkau and I thought you cared. I can’t believe I haven’t heard from you.”  Mea culpa. She was 100% right. I should have called her. I was so rattled by her comments that when her banker picked up I had completely forgotten the reason I called him. 

So we are by no means perfect and we are stumbling our way through this like many of you. Not every conversation will go well. But the only regret will be the conversations we don’t have. 

We have supported advocacy groups, with Dan and I personally giving meaningfully to the following organizations:

-      Black Lives Matter

-      Campaign Zero

-      Color of Change

-      Equal Justice Initiative

-      Know Your Rights

-      NAACP Legal Defense Fund

-      The Bail Project

These are incredible organizations doing exceptional work. And there are many others. Do your own research. Find out where you want to have impact. We are working with Asahi to get our people more actively involved with these organizations to drive impact beyond just our capital.

We have tried to educate ourselves. Not just through listening but through reading. 

We have taken action.  We both signed the Justice for Breonna Taylor petition (https://www.change.org/p/andy-beshear-justice-for-breonna-taylor?signed=true) demanding consequences for the illegal, unannounced raid on her home that resulted in officers firing 22 shots, shooting Breonna Taylor 8 times and killing her. 

We marched. Perhaps the highlight of this week of anguish for me was a protest march I participated in with my 13 year old daughter. With her handmade Black Lives Matter sign and our facemasks, we went off to protest. I must admit I was somewhat cynical about a BLM march in the suburbs...and it was probably the whitest BLM march of all-time, but you know what...it was amazing.  Over 2,000 people marching in New Canaan, CT and chanting “Black Lives Matter” and calling out the names of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. It was moving. And I was most struck at the young African-American boy on his father shoulders marching amidst a sea of white protesters, swiveling his head around incredulously as they all chanted “Black Lives Matter”. The protest stopped at the local police department and speeches were made. Someone started singing the National Anthem and the entire group took a knee and raised their fists in the air in solidarity...in suburban Connecticut!  

We sincerely hope that this time is different. We hope that we have reached a tipping point as a country and more broadly as humanity, that we aren’t going to allow injustice based on the color of one’s skin. It is incumbent on all of us to keep this same level of intensity until there is change. Or, as Sean Legister told me, until this moment becomes a movement.

But we aren’t naive. And the prospect of inertia is real. And to make that point, let me close with the following passage.

“I can’t breathe.”

I cannot get his dying words out of my head. As everyone knows, those three words have become a symbol of the struggle to make sense of his death. In the aftermath of his death, “I can’t breathe” also became a rallying cry for those who wanted to express the feelings of black people who, perceiving an unjust policing and legal system in America, felt (and feel) stifled and fearful for their lives. “I can’t breathe” also means “I feel trapped, isolated, unable to do anything positive about my second-class position in America.”

Those words were written by the Head of School at my children’s school....in 2015!!!!! The death he referred to was that of Eric Garner, not George Floyd. The exact same words, the exact same tragedy, the exact same outrage. Yet eventually that public outrage died down...and here we are five years later and the cycle is repeating itself. 

So, please let this time actually be different. Let the stories our colleagues have shared stay with us. Let the compassion we feel remain part of us. And, yes, let the outrage we feel remain part of us too.  

And let us channel those emotions and work to effect real change.

#BlackLivesMatter

Gregg and Dan