I'm Listening and Ready for Long-overdue Change

On the first day of June, I took an early morning walk on empty Chicago streets that had been the scene of angry protests only hours before. While I was dismayed by the broken windows, the damaged property, and the eerie quiet blanketing the city I love, what I saw made me even more aware of what I have looked past for too long—the hurt, frustration, oppression, and racial inequality experienced by Black Americans that underpinned both peaceful and violent protests the night before.

The brutality on display when Derek Chauvin dug his knee into George Floyd’s neck, ultimately killing him, was only one reflection of the deep stain of racism that has been around for centuries and persists in our country. As appalling as that abhorrent act was, it should not be confused with racism in general, which is, as researcher and author J. Kehaulani Kauanui and others point out, an ongoing discriminatory, hierarchical system.

As a white man who grew up in a white environment with white privilege, I am a product of that system. Never having been a victim of racial discrimination or police brutality, I recognize that I am incapable of truly understanding the depth of pain African Americans felt after seeing yet another unarmed black person needlessly die due to excessive force by the police. Furthermore, I recognize and regret the times I have felt racial bias and prejudice toward others. I also regret that with the power I had through the positions I held, I didn’t always do enough to fight systemic racism and other forms of inequality.

While Black sons in the 1960s, when I was coming of age, were being warned by their fathers how to act if they were stopped by the police, my father was teaching me what to do in the face of a bully. "Figure out what makes the bully tick," he told me, "then outsmart him and, if you must, be ready to fight." I realize now that I can use his lesson to help confront the “bully” that is racism, even if it is not directed at me. I wish that it had not taken me so long to come to that conclusion, but now I’m ready to listen, learn, and act.

One step in that listening and learning process included recently reaching out to several senior African American business leaders I know and respect. A suggestion from one of those leaders particularly hit home because it focused on some of the underlying structural causes of inequality: “We must find ways to equalize educational and employment opportunities and to provide a safety net for those at the bottom of the economic ladder, including health care. The adverse economic impact of the coronavirus has fallen to an extraordinary degree disproportionately on black and brown people.?And they are seeing, so far, very little of the recovery that seems to have begun. This is structural, reflecting the inequities existent before the virus.”?While the areas he identified for reform aren’t new, I now can see the urgency much more clearly.?

The events of the past two weeks and those recent conversations were cathartic and caused me to reexamine what I could do as a former CEO, a current board member, and a concerned citizen to help make the situation better—not sometime in the future, but right now. Recognizing that I’m no expert on race relations and that I certainly don’t have all the answers, here is some of what I intend to do.

I will acknowledge that racism and racial inequality continue to be serious, deep-seated problems. A basic first step in successfully solving any problem is to acknowledge that a problem exists. Racism and racial inequality exist in this country. I believe that America will never be a truly great nation until racism is rooted out and all Americans, whether they be white, black, indigenous, or other people of color, have access to equal opportunity. I also believe that white people ultimately have a great deal to lose if we all don’t figure out how to get this right.?

I will hold myself and others accountable. While it is important to speak out against racism and other inequities, it is just as important for me to walk the talk and do my best to ensure that corporations and other organizations I’m a part of do the same. For example, I will work hard to ensure that the companies with which I work have robust diversity, equality/inclusion policies for hiring, professional development, board recruitment, and minority supplier contracting. As a fellow board member who is African American pointed out, “Good intentions are vital, but good results are essential.”

I will support constructive change right now. Hoping that the underlying reasons for the recent unrest will just go away with time is both na?ve and shortsighted because history has taught us that it will not happen. History also teaches us that the greatest opportunity to affect change is when meaningful action is taken close to tumultuous events. I believe the vast majority of police officers are decent human beings trying their best to professionally protect lives and property, and I am not in favor of defunding police departments. However, we need significantly better screening, training, supervision, and oversight of police departments across this nation while ensuring that public safety is maintained in each community.?

I will take time to listen and learn from those who are different from me. Education is a critical component of lasting change. We all knew as young children that you can’t learn if you don’t listen. It also is human nature for people to become frustrated if they think they are not heard or if they believe that nobody cares. Earlier today, I attended a webinar to better understand the history of white supremacy and the relationship of white privilege to racial inequality. I recently reread The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin’s landmark book dealing with racial inequality in America. I intend to read more books and articles and listen to more podcasts discussing what factors perpetuate rather than ameliorate the problem of racism.

I will support peaceful protests but condemn lawlessness and violence. Voices raised in protest can help influence public policy for the better and be a catalyst to change archaic, unfair laws. Freedom to protest is for that reason enshrined in our own Constitution’s First Amendment rights. However, there is no right to use peaceful protest as an excuse for mindless or vicious violence—whether by protestors, police, or opportunists with separate agendas. Our country is based on the rule of law. It is important to reemphasize this core tenet since to do otherwise only condones lawlessness and violence that ultimately plays into the hands of those who wish to either perpetuate inequities or further divide our country.?

I will speak out constructively and encourage others to do the same. Each voice counts. Edmund Burke, the often-quoted Irish statesman and philosopher knew this when he wrote, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” Burke also said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Furthermore, I will continue to denounce divisive, hateful, and inflammatory rhetoric, whether it is heard on the street or comes from the highest levels of our government. In doing so, I will remember James Baldwin’s words, “Whoever debases others is debasing himself.”

I will make my feelings known to local, state, and federal elected officials. Substantive change will require modifications in governmental policy and the enactment of new laws. These changes must go beyond law enforcement reform and include improved policies affecting education, employment, healthcare, and other vital community services. Elected officials listen to their constituents, and in this election year, I will actively support the campaigns of fair-minded politicians who speak honestly and are committed to implementing helpful change.

I will treat others with kindness, humility, and respect. America has often shown its best side in times of tragedy and national challenge, and this is one of those times. Simple acts of kindness, humility, and respect also go a long way in healing wounds and crossing divides.

I know that none of this is especially profound, but I was encouraged by some friends and colleagues to put my feelings down on paper and then make them public, so I have. Is what I’m saying and intending to do just another example of “too little, too late” or an attempt to “cleanse white guilt” as some editorialists recently have suggested about other white people speaking out now? Maybe this would be a fair complaint in more normal times. However, these aren’t normal times, so I intend to look inside myself, reconsider my language, thoughts, and actions, and then continue to speak out and move forward to achieve real social justice and positive change in America.?

Frederick Douglass, a former slave, was one of our nation's most gifted and well-known orators for several decades beginning in the 1840s. As we all move forward during this difficult period marked by the COVID pandemic, economic challenges, social unrest, and a highly divisive presidential campaign, perhaps it might be good to remember the motto and creed of the North Star, a newspaper Douglass founded in 1847: "Right is of no Sex - Truth is of no Color - God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren."