My Reflections on Juneteenth and Windrush Day

While the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others may have led to a global awakening for racial justice, for many of us, it was the moment when the rest of the world opened their eyes to a reality we've known our entire lives. I vividly recall thinking in June 2020: “I wonder where we will be in June 2021…

Will we have the same commitment to action, the same fire in our bellies…will racial justice still be top of mind?”

And here we are.

Earlier this week, President Biden and Congress passed legislation to establish Juneteenth, a non-event to most Americans just two years ago, as a national holiday. We’ve made a lot of progress, but we need to remain focused - there is much more work ahead.

On this Juneteenth, I want to reflect on the celebration of the freedom of those who were enslaved, and celebrate the progress made over the past year.

And with my colleagues and friends across the pond, I want to acknowledge Windrush Day, the anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush Ship, which brought the first large group of post-war migrants from the Caribbean to Britain. As a Caribbean immigrant myself, it’s heartening to see the contributions of the Caribbean community to British society acknowledged and celebrated.

It’s been a year since we launched the Goldman Sachs Fund for Racial Equity, and our partners have been working day in and day out on driving change. Continuing that momentum, in March we launched One Million Black Women, our $10 billion commitment to make commercial investments that will impact the lives of at least one million Black women by 2030.

We work with incredible organizations, led by visionary leaders who, with their teams, work to level the playing field, create more pathways to opportunity and tirelessly drive change from their corner of the world.

We are proud to support:

Fund for Racial Equity US: UNCF, LDF, STRIVE, Black Economic Alliance, Black Girls Code, Equal Justice Initiative, Innocence Project, My Brother’s Keeper, Know Your Rights Camp

Fund for Racial Equity EMEA: SEO London, Mentivity, The Runnymede Trust, Urban Synergy, Voyage, StopWatch, Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, ADAN, Article 1

One Million Black Women: Birth Center Equity, Buy From a Black Woman, Columbus Urban League, The Prosp(a)rity Project, Sadie Collective, Springboard to Opportunities – Magnolia Mother’s Trust, Women’s Fund of Central Ohio

I want to spotlight one of our UK-based partners Mentivity, an inspirational mentoring organization and alternative educational provision which aims to foster greater educational attainment and engagement focused on Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic young people.

Sayce Holmes-Lewis is the CEO of Mentivity whose dedication to the areas of racial equity and social injustice stems from an encounter he experienced at the age of 14 in which he was assaulted by a police officer on the way home from school. Since then he has been stopped & searched over 30 times. In May 2020, Sayce was unjustly stopped & searched by the police yet again.

As a result of the encounter, Sayce initiated a ground-breaking training program in partnership with the Metropolitan Police, training new recruits on how to positively engage with the Black British community, in relation to stop & search - demonstrating the work that needs to be done and the great leaders stepping up.

For Goldman Sachs, working with Mentivity has been a holistic partnership. We provided grants through the Fund for Racial Equity, our Firmwide Black Network spent time working with Mentivity beneficiaries and when the rollout of the program had to pivot online, our engineers worked to update their website - making Mentivity’s services even more accessible.

There is no doubt that more work, more action lies ahead, but as John Lewis said "nothing can stop the power of a committed and determined people to make a difference in our society.”