How to be an ally against racism and police brutality

June 1, 2020

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! America’s streets are filled with protests against police brutality, Rep. Val Demings addresses her fellow law enforcement officers, and a member of our MPW Next Gen community has something important to say. Wishing you a receptive Monday.

This morning’s guest column comes to us from Jotaka Eaddy. Eaddy, formerly VP Policy, Strategic Engagement, and Impact at LendUp, is the founder and CEO of Full Circle Strategies, and a member of our Fortune Most Powerful Women Next Gen community. Her words began as a post on her Facebook account last week in response to the death of George Floyd. Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis last Monday after officer Derek Chauvin drove his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes as Floyd struggled for breath. On Friday, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder; his lawyer has not responded to media requests for comment on the charges. Protests against racism and police brutality have erupted across the country and continued through the weekend.

A message for my white and non-black friends:

Maybe my Facebook algorithm is a factor, but I haven’t seen much outrage from my white and other non-black friends in this moment.

Many of you are allies—strong allies, good people with great hearts. But sadly some of you have family members and friends who have the mindset of Amy Cooper, the McMichaels, or Derek Chauvin and his fellow officers who ignored Floyd’s plea – “I can’t breathe.”

That friend or family member may not have done something as heinous as what we all saw on those videos. But if they are making racist comments in private or have a biased mindset—they are just as dangerous. Bias and misinformation coupled with perceived fear can be explosive. This is the dangerous slippery slope that can lead to situations where innocent black people end up murdered or in prison.

What’s even sadder is that when you go back and review many of these incidents, you often see that just a small bit of human compassion or understanding could have easily deescalated the situation and perhaps a precious life spared.

We have to end this violence, racism, and nonsense. You have a role to play. Here is how you can really help: talk to your friends and family members. Change the hearts and minds at your dinner tables and amongst your own circles of friends.

Start by doing an assessment of your family and friends. Be honest with yourself: you know who the closet racists or bigots are. Where there is a need, have that courageous conversation and do the long and tedious work to challenge and educate them. Arm yourself with facts. Read books, articles, gather information, and do the hard work to shift racist culture among yourselves.

It’s also helpful for you acknowledge the pain that many are feeling and to speak out and take action. Be bold and use your privilege to shed light on bias and racism.

Some of you are doing the important work to dismantle racism. Please keep doing it. Others are trying to figure out what you can do and where to start. Here’s my take:

• Acknowledge the pain • Speak up: use your voice and platform to fight racism • Take action: support public actions, donate and/or join organizations fighting against racism, vote for change • Educate yourself. Here’s a sample reading list; please find more. • Do the hard work of challenging your racist family members and friends. Imagine if friends and family had challenged and appealed to Officer Chauvin years ago—just maybe things would have ended differently for George Floyd. I hope something I’ve written here will motivate you to do more and understand that you have a role to play.

This is simply my humble opinion and suggestion. Take or leave it. I pray that you take it.

Jotaka Eaddy
Jotaka@TheFullCircleStrategy.com
@JotakaEaddy (Twitter and IG)

Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Black lives matter. For more on this weekend's events, read this piece featuring interviews with Stacey Abrams, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and more. Abrams says that the protests are what happens when "[people are desperate for] their pain to be validated." New York Times

- Talking blue. Rep. Val Demings, the congresswoman who served as one of the House of Representatives' impeachment managers and the former chief of the Orlando Police Department, wrote an op-ed addressed to her fellow law enforcement officers. She begins with a message to her "brothers and sisters in blue: What in the hell are you doing?" Washington Post

- Tough on crime? The death of George Floyd by law enforcement in Minneapolis and this weekend's nationwide protests have put pressure on Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar at a moment when she was considered a frontrunner for Joe Biden's VP pick. During her time as a prosecutor in the state, Klobuchar often declined to bring charges against police officers involved in shootings, instead sending the cases to grand juries. "I think that was wrong now," Klobuchar said on Friday. New York Times

- Glass half empty. After the U.K. government waived its requirement that companies report their gender pay gaps because of the coronavirus pandemic, half of all companies usually obligated to share the information did not disclose wage disparities this year. (They had since last April to calculate the numbers; some had gathered the information before the pandemic hit but opted not to submit.) Advocates worry that companies opting out when not held to account by lawmakers is a troubling sign. Bloomberg

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Robinhood hired Airbnb director of engineering Surabhi Gupta as VP of engineering. The Association for Computing Machinery named Johannes Kepler University professor Gabriele Kotsis its president.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Back to books. Emily Powell, CEO of Powell's Books, shut down her enormously popular independent bookstore in March. Now she's figuring out how the Portland business can operate safely. She talks about laying off staff, her relationship with the store's unionized workforce, and the future of bookstore browsing here: New York Times

- Kylie's kash. Forbes put Kylie Jenner on its cover as the youngest self-made billionaire in 2018. Last year, Coty Cosmetics bought Jenner's business, Kylie Cosmetics, for $600 million, valuing the company at $1.2 billion. But Forbes now reports, based on filings from public company Coty, that Jenner's business is much smaller than it appeared with revenues closer to $25 million than $360 million—and that Jenner isn't quite a billionaire. Forbes

- The MTA way. Sarah Feinberg is tasked with saving New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority; from trying to keep its workers safe to buoying the system amid plunging ridership revenue. She started in the job of New York City transit interim president in early March—just in time to face the unprecedented crisis. In more New York news, Chiara de Blasio, daughter of Mayor Bill de Blasio, was arrested at the city's protests yesterday; demonstrators have criticized her father's handling of the protests.

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