We Can Fix This.
Over the last several days, what happened to George Floyd in downtown Minneapolis on Memorial Day, 2020, has had an increasingly profound impact on me and those around me. And as you might imagine, the impact has varied widely from sadness and shock to anger at those perceived to be “destroying our cities.”
After living in projects in Cambridge, Mass., we eventually moved to an upper middle class town in Massachusetts where I was the only African American male in my graduating class. Feeling isolated is something I’ve learned to deal with and try to overcome most of my life. What helped was having a strong support network at home with a mother who is a descendant of a member of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the black regiment that found renewed fame in the movie "Glory." We are related to James Henry Gooding, who chronicled the regiment's exploits for his hometown newspaper in New Bedford, Mass., and wrote President Lincoln asking for black soldiers to be paid the same as whites.
Today, we need to foster that same strong support network at our companies across the globe. Many already do a wonderful job of this, but we can and need to do more. Every event I’ve attended at Page I’m struck at how few people look like me amongst my peers. It’s something Ron Culp and I discussed during my initial discussions with him about Page. I’m happy to see that we as an organization are committed to changing that. And I know we are all go-getters who get results (or we wouldn’t be in these positions), but please avoid the temptation to try to quickly solve this problem. I’ve seen well-intentioned people at my own company this week – so touched by what’s happening – want to immediately take action, and I’ve had to let them know we need a well thought out holistic strategy to enhance diversity and inclusion. And we will have one.
Lastly, the day after Mr. Floyd’s murder when the video started circulating online, I had my 17 year old son watch it with me. I wanted him to know although he lives in a nice Chicago suburb and wants for nothing, we live in a society where right now that doesn’t matter. The content of his character is still not the first thing that people will judge him on, it’s still the color of his skin. We can’t undo 400 years of history, but we damn sure can start to chip away at that foundation and build a new one.
Be well,
Chris Brathwaite
