Dear Reader,
My heart goes out to the family of George Floyd.
His life was squeezed out of him by a white policeman.
It also goes out to all of the families who have lost members to racial discrimination and police violence.
We must bear witness to the unnecessary deaths of these men and women whose names we know and of the many more who died in the shadows away from witnesses and public record.
I know what it is to lose people close to you, especially a parent.
But it’s even worse when their death results from in-grained prejudices that lead to unnecessary and/or excess force.
What gives any of us the right to sit in judgment of another person based on the predetermined assumptions we carry in our head?
Don’t we have a responsibility to hear their side of the story?
To listen to what is in their head?
To put ourselves in their shoes and understand their experience and perspective?
And this loss isn’t limited to George Floyd’s family.
And this loss doesn’t just extend to the families of others killed like him.
Rather, this loss applies to all of us. This includes you and me as well as the broader community.
Because by bearing witness to this unnecessary crime and allowing some of the police officers involved to go unpunished, we have lost our innocence.
Each one of us has a moral responsibility to stand up for those people who don’t have a voice or who can’t be heard or seen.
While I love this country of mine, it’s not without its faults and misdeeds.
Over the course of centuries, history is bound to get messy.
So it’s no surprise that we are still haunted by the sins of our early settlers and founding fathers. While the early settlers came here seeking freedom from kings, state religions and prisons, they were willing to establish their own equally binding prejudices.
BUT—this doesn’t exonerate us from our responsibility to stand up now and right these wrongs.
I realize that this is a marketing newsletter and that you may not view this topic as an appropriate forum to discuss these issues. If this bothers you, please hit reply or use the link at the bottom of this email to unsubscribe.
But I disagree.
Why?
Because, as marketers, we have a responsibility to stand for a higher purpose, not just driving profitable sales.
And, in my opinion, the right to live without fear for your life or your safety regardless of where you came from, the color of your skin, your sexual orientation, the religion you practice, your political beliefs, and/or the size of your personal resources is the most basic of rights.
If your business can’t get behind this basic right, then your customers deserve to know that.
Because even if it doesn’t matter to you, it sure matters to them!
This past week, I have watched more news than I’ve watched in weeks since COVID-19 closed New York City. My husband and I have sat transfixed in front of the images of violence erupting in cities across the United States.
Below our window, a hundred or more people marched the wrong way on a one way street on Friday evening.
In another time, we might have gone outside to join them. Instead, we continued to shelter-in-place to maintain our health. Because the marchers, some without face masks, walked too close together for our sense of safety.
Since Friday, helicopters have continued making their presence known overhead.
Beyond being cooped up for weeks due to COVID-19, these people are angry. And I agree with them!
Since there are people with more reason and better words to express these challenging times than me, I am including their quotes here.
In an op-ed piece in The LA Times, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the N.B.A.’s all-time leading scorer wrote:
“Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s always still in the air…
What you should see when you see black protesters in the age of Trump and coronavirus is people pushed to the edge, not because they want bars and nail salons open, but because they want to live. To breathe.”
On Saturday evening, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter spoke eloquently about the wrongful death of George Floyd against the dual challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis.
Carter talked about the community coming together to help each other. In his words (paraphrased from the video):
We need to honor the sense of togetherness, community and cohesion while we will not accept the brutal murder of George Floyd and we will not accept the destruction of our communities.
I hope that you and those your care about stay healthy, both physically and mentally.
And know that when we work together as a community we can achieve a good quality of health, shelter and nourishment for everyone, not just a select few.
Happy Marketing,
Heidi
P.S.: Join me for Voice Global on June 9, 2020.
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