Some moments are so terrible and so clear that they spur change and demand action. The murder of George Floyd at the hands of officers of the Minneapolis Police Department is one of those moments.
Millions have already sent a clear message, through their words and by protesting: Black Lives Matter. And they’re absolutely right.
Photo by Daniel Aronson.
Beyond the protests, many Americans are telling pollsters that they have changed their understanding of who we are as a country. In 2017, 57% of Americans had an unfavorable view of Black Lives Matter. Now, 53% support it. Now, a majority of Americans (57%) say that police officers facing a tough situation are more likely to use excessive force if the culprit is black, while in 2016 only 34% said so.
That’s a good shift, and long overdue. But it’s only the beginning. Now comes taking action, as workers, companies, and citizens, to bring our reality into line with who we want to be. Now comes the hard work of change.
At Valutus, our work has always been deeply personal, rooted in what matters to us. That’s why we focus on values as well as value,[1] and on the connection between them – for example, the connections between structural racism and economic opportunity and the fact that environmental harms hit Black Americans harder here in the US in addition to being harder on the most vulnerable elsewhere.[2]
Because of the importance of living our values, these times have spurred us to do some self-examination and to look harder at our place in addressing racism. We know we don’t have all the answers, so we’re doing more listening, seeking to understand how we can help make America and the world more just. We’re also looking for ways we can help amplify Black voices so they reach more people. And we’re examining what we do to see how we can be more effective catalysts for change, in our work and in our personal lives.
We believe combating inequality is an essential part of creating a sustainable future.[3] There are practical reasons for this – for example, we know that equality makes societies more willing to preserve the natural world, and we understand that we need to inspire everyone to pull together, and only a more just world will do that.
At a deeper level, though, justice and equity are simply fundamental values, part of the definition of the world we want. And we need to bring them to life through action.
References:
[1] In fact, we chose the name Valutus because it is the Latin root of both “value” and “values”
[2] The New York Times, Read Up on the Links Between Racism and the Environment, June 5, 2020
[3] The New York Times, Black Environmentalists Talk About Climate and Anti-Racism, June 3, 2020