The televised killing of one unarmed black man after another, culminating with the brutal lynching of George Floyd, has stirred the conscious and aroused the moral outrage in people around the world. Racism in America can no longer be denied. It is a toxic virus that has been passed from one generation to the next through racist and well-established customs, habits, rules, regulations and practices. This institutionalized behavior has resulted in substandard living conditions, poor health care, higher death rates, over incarceration, second class education, higher unemployment and restricted access to the American Dream for African Americans.
In response to these realities, White America and its corporations and business organizations stepped forward with various promises designed to show their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement by condemning police brutality and systemic racism. Many of them also made unprecedented commitments to diversity and racial justice. The African American Community is now asking the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce, Saginaw Crime Prevention Council and others to follow their statements up with tangible and meaningful action. We are asking them to take the following Diversity Pledge and actions. There is no vaccine for racism, America must do the work.
DIVERSITY PLEDGE
- We understand that as a result of slavery, racial segregation, and this country’s history of racial discrimination, certain racist attitudes, customs, habits and practices are ingrained in many of our day-to-day business operations. We acknowledge that systemic racism exist and that it has resulted in a racial imbalance in many of our student populations and workforces. We are committed to racial equality and eliminating racial discrimination in all of its forms.
- We agree to conduct a racial-bias audit of our business and organizational operation. We agree to carefully scrutinize each job classification and other areas of our educational and business operation where there is a under representation of African Americans, for the purpose of identifying and removing those racial barriers which may have caused the under representation. We oppose systemic racism and will actively work to eliminate it in our organization.
- We agree to establish diversity targets and to develop and implement special programs and initiatives to achieve those diversity targets on a timely basis. We believe in a racially diverse student population and/or workforce and we will actively work towards achieving one.
Corporate America must begin by acknowledging the evil nature of systemic racism and then seeking to identify and eradicate it in their individual business operation. They must begin by doing their own house cleaning. They must then seek to address any racial imbalance in their operation through the use of special programs and initiatives. These special efforts will be designed to move African Americans closer to where they would be if there had been no discrimination. Together we can make America better, we can keep America strong. We can make America work for everyone.
