Black people are tired, and yes, angry. Waiting so long, for so many decades and generations, for the communications industry to begin, in earnest, to take down the Wall of institutionalized racism, brick-by-brick. It has not. Some companies have hired a few Black employees to handle diversity and inclusion projects. Others made Juneteenth an annual holiday once they recently learned the day existed. But where are Black decision-makers in major PR firms? Where are the Black executives in C-Suites, and as paid board members? Where are the Black voices telling our much-sought-after Black stories?
For far too long, Black people have prodded Corporate America for more involvement in decision-making, for earned promotions to senior positions, for inclusivity in board representation, and to tell our own stories. But instead of concrete action aimed at the root of America’s racism problem, we’ve received a continuum of insincere lip service and token gestures. Racism will not “magically disappear,” as some have claimed the coronavirus will do. The majority-white population actually has to do something — or else, like the community-spreading virus, everyone gets sicker.
Some corporations and elected leaders began listening last spring, when masses of people filled America’s streets with Black Lives Matter protests. Following several incidents of video-documented police violence against Black people, most obviously the horrific murder of George Floyd, hundreds of thousands of people — young and old, Black and white, straight and LGBTQ — marched arm-in-arm to denounce systematic racism, and to call for police reform and social justice.
The rage manifested through mainly peaceful protests forced major corporate brands to reconsider propagating insidious portrayals of Black Americans. Quaker Oats retired Aunt Jemima, the mammy who cooked for white folks on plantations, the smiling Black chef on the Cream of Wheat cereal box, and Uncle Ben. NASCAR stopped allowing the Confederate flag to fly. Even the NFL agreed to listen more intently to its Black players and embrace their legitimate right to protest against racial injustice. And who would have ever thought the controversial Mississippi state flag embedded with Confederate symbols would ever be shelved.
One by one, corporate brands are being forced and cajoled to make needed changes. It’s a start, but only the beginning of what needs to be done to rid the consumer market of institutionalized racism. Institutions can no longer depend on guidelines from the federal, state or local governments. They must continue listening to their increasingly diverse consumers to save the brands they represent from major collapse.
Here are five important steps for white leaders and firms in our industry to stop the 3 D’s: Denial, Denigration, and Deferment of action on racism.
- Take the lead. Acknowledge and address the prevailing institutionalized racial prejudice existing in white-owned companies.
- Educate yourselves about Black lives, families and stories — they are human, just like you.
- Empower Black leaders in C-Suites and on paid corporate boards. Your board should reflect your consumers.
- Include Black voices to tell Black stories. Black people know how they want to be portrayed. It is imperative to listen to the source.
- Do business with Black-owned companies. Hire Black consultants. Promote Black brands. Form partnerships with Black-owned PR firms.
Our industry must take heed to this urgent call to action today. We must become champions of truth, reconciliation, and equality. I remain hopeful of the possibility of the tumbling of that White Wall. But I know it will take a change of heart, the understanding of what is right and the commitment to actually do it. White privilege has stood for much too long with a knee on the necks of Black people. This must change now. The peaceful prosperity of our great Republic depends on it.