“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “I have a dream speech”
Over the past centuries, Americans have permitted systemic racism and unconscious bias to affect how an entire race and class of people are mistreated – by the justice system, by the penal system, by the social welfare system, by the education system, by the financial system, and the list goes on – because of the color of their skin, stated Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and CEO of Social Capital. In no reasonable, moral worldview is this acceptable.
The salient point is that equality, for all Americans, is an essential pillar of the US democracy and its capitalist economy…not a discretionary feature that can be arbitrarily turned off and turned on based on the whim of public and private leaders.
Conversely, we, as a nation, can’t fix what we don’t acknowledge and we need to acknowledge that systemic racism and unconscious bias have happened and continues to happen, and begin the hard work of finding solutions.
One solution
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein
In the past eighteen months since George Floyd murder at the knee of law enforcement, many private sector companies are embracing their role in creating more equitable workplaces, addressing societal racial inequality and even donating to causes working to end racism. Robert F. Smith, Founder, CEO and Chairman of Vista Capital, argues that if we want to see lasting, meaningful change, the private sector’s efforts to address structural racism, we need the private sector to step up and deploy “permanent capital” — meaning investments and commitments that are scalable and focused on the long-term.
Specifically, companies should designate 2% of their yearly earnings to closing racial opportunity gaps, diversifying their boards and pension managers, making higher education more affordable, and addressing disparities that they’re uniquely qualified to help solve.
For example, telecommunications companies have a “special responsibility to end connectivity deserts” where one in three Black households have no broadband internet or computer access, according to Smith.
Health care companies can work to address racial health inequities, and software companies can make affordable tools to help Black sole proprietors and small business owners better handle payroll and customer acquisition.
“It is all too easy to let the urgency of a moment fade away with little to show for it,” Smith said. “Let’s meet this moment. We have the tools, the technologies and the access to capital to do it. All we need is the willpower to see this through.”
References:
- https://www.socialcapital.com/annual-letters/2020
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/15/how-companies-can-make-practical-commitments-achieve-economic-justice/