This is the web version of raceAhead, Coins2Day’s daily newsletter on race, culture, and inclusive leadership. To get it delivered daily to your inbox, sign up here.
Happy Friday! Outrage leads to arrests in the Ahmaud Arbery case, a police shooting is livestreamed on Facebook, and some history behind Sesame Street’s creation.
But first, your week in review, in Haiku.
In an alternate
world, he would have come home from
his run, sweaty and
smiling, grateful to
be able to get outside.
In an alternate
world, it would be his
birthday today. And no one
would know, except his
people, who would mark
the day with wishes for his
next 25 years.
In an alternate
world, we would need no justice,
we would be the peace.
Wishing you a safe and peaceful weekend.
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
[email protected]
.
On point
"Ahmaud Arbery should be alive" There is no way to parse this story without coming to this conclusion, though people will try. Arbery was jogging through the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick, Ga. Last February, when he was pursued by three white men in a truck, who "believed" him to be a possible burglar. Two chased, shot, and murdered him, one videoed it all. It is horrific. The three men, father and son Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William Bryan, were not credible at the time of the incident, and it took the recent release of the video to force enough outrage to trigger their arrest. The outrage has surfaced a powerful desire for justice. I’ll let Rolling Stone’ s Jamil Smith take it from here. “We should reshape our thinking about that conception of ‘justice,’ however, as we confront yet another murder of a young black person, visual evidence of that crime, and the insidious and racist justification of it,” he says. “True justice cannot be served until we change the system that allows for human rage and frailty to indulge itself at a whim, seizing its own sick justice while the real thing must be more deliberate.”
Rolling Stone
Another police shooting filmed live on Facebook A man identified as Dreasjon “Sean” Reed, 21, was shot and killed on Wednesday. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said they were pursuing Reed because he had been driving recklessly. Reed appeared to have started the livestream himself and was reportedly asking for help—he appeared to have been tasered, multiple shots were heard on the video. Some 4,000 people, including family members of Reed, watched the stream. Reed’s video picked up one detective joking, “think it’s going to be a closed casket, homie.” The incident sparked widespread protests. The Indianapolis Police are facing additional scrutiny after having killed three people in an eight-hour period, including an officer fatally striking a pregnant woman.
Washington Post
Quarantine inspires India’s push toward renewable fuel sources India is the second-largest coal consumer in the world, but forced lockdown has dampened energy demands by some 30%. Experts are hoping that the downtime could speed the country’s switch to solar power. “There is potential for India to really surprise the global community and contribute to the decarbonisation story while doing it in a very cost-effective way,” says the director of energy finance studies for the Australia and South Asia region at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
Climate Change News
Coronavirus in the community
- The NYPD arrested 40 people for social distancing violations. How many were white?
- We’re all data scientists now: How to figure out which coronavirus data matters.
- Understanding quarantine and family violence: People have been locked in with their abusers for weeks.
- Finding new ways to mourn the lonely deaths of loved ones.
- Are you a frontline health or other essential worker feeling stress, anxiety, fear, depression, and/or isolation associated with COVID-19? Connect to expert counseling care via the confidential Crisis Text Line. More information at For the Frontlines. Please share.
On background
Did you know that Black people held conventions for human rights before, during, and after the Civil War? For seven decades starting in 1830, African Americans convened throughout the U.S. And Canada to discuss urgent matters of civil and human rights. I had never heard of these Colored Conventions until I stumbled upon this extraordinary project from the University of Delaware. The Colored Conventions Project is preserving this history and digitizing a trove of understudied documents associated with the conventions. They are doing the work, folks. Follow them on Twitter here, explore their digital records here, more background below.
The Colored Conventions Project
The man behind a beloved institution of New York boxing history dies of COVID-19 Jimmy’s Corner was a popular Times Square bar, a throwback to an earlier time in many ways. A towel’s throw away from Madison Square Garden, it was a place where boxers and fans could mingle, and listen to owner Jimmy Glenn, a former boxing cornerman who told all the tales. The final scene of Raging Bull was filmed there. Glenn was 89, the cause was complications from coronavirus.
New York Daily News
The incredible true story of the black psychiatrists who changed television After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1968, the Black Psychiatrists of America convened with a singular goal: To force the psychiatric community to acknowledge its own racism and to address the racism in the entire country. Led by Dr. Chester Pierce, and driven by the quest for widespread cultural change, Pierce decided to focus on television. He worried the messages conveyed by mainstream television were psychologically harmful to young people of color. He wanted mass media to “serve rather than to oppress the black people of this country.” Pierce worked his way into an advisory position for a new show that aimed to bring education into the homes of kids everywhere. And that is the little known and true story of how we actually got to Sesame Street, the most ground-breaking and racially diverse show the country had ever seen.
The Daily Beast
The big number
2.23
This is the number of miles that protesters are running today, to safely demonstrate in Ahmaud Arbery's honor; Arbery was shot and killed on February 23.
Today's mood board
The family business
- If you like raceAhead, Daisy Auger-Domínguez is one of the people to thank—she’s an outstanding inclusion expert and an early (and often) adviser to yours truly. And now, she’s Vice Media’s new Chief People Officer, reporting to Vice Media Group CEO Nancy Dubuc.
- Bernadette Smith is co-presenting a webinar on May 13 that’s designed for all DEI professionals or employee leaders called No Cost and DIY Virtual Pride Events and Programming. She will be joined by Scott Gatz from Q. Digital, and will focus on existing events, educational programming, and best ways to engage LGBTQ employees and allies. Register here.
- White Men As Full Diversity Partners has a new webinar series called Leading in Times of Uncertainty. More here.
- Jeffrey L. Bowman, CEO and co-founder of Reframe, a people operations platform designed to help navigate change, wants to know how you’re navigating a post-COVID-19 workplace. Take the survey here; read or listen to Reframe’s new People Operations Guide In The Age of Accelerations here.
- Shelley Zalis, the CEO of The Female Quotient, has a new virtual discussion series aimed at addressing the issues young women are facing in the corporate world—from pay inequity and mental burnout, to a lack of opportunities and representation. Keep an eye on the #FQNextGen Lounge for a chance to learn and share.
