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| The Blackwashing of America, by Mary Cummins, Los Angeles, California, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Black, White, George Floyd, death race, racial, discrimination, police brutality, metoo, blacklivesmatter, real estate |
UPDATE: 2022. A lot has happened since I first wrote this article. Real estate market is going down, interest rates are up, fears of a recession are looming and companies are firing people to cut expenses. First group of people to be fired are the DEI consultants and directors. Turns out they weren't effective because people at the top of the company didn't want them to be effective. They didn't give them the power, funds or ability to change the company. Because DEI is a relatively new field many DEI employees weren't always experienced or effective. Hiring DEI employees was all for show, corporate window dressing.
https://www.yahoo.com/now/hamstrung-golden-handcuffs-diversity-roles-194601215.html
ORIGINAL: Black George Floyd was murdered by a white police officer May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While black men have been killed by police officers for many years that specific black murder changed everything.
Black Lives Matter had been gaining influence and support since 2013. People had increasingly been taking and sharing videos of police brutality and use of excessive force against black men on social media. Videos of violence against black people were going viral. There was now no way to deny the intense racism in our country especially at the intersection of police and black men. That one death started a movement which has changed the face of the US.
"The country is in a time of racial reckoning, heightened by a summer of protests against systemic racism and police brutality following the death of George Floyd in police custody." Floyd's death "sparked the largest racial justice protests in the United States since the Civil Rights Movement." "According to data from various sources, the Black Lives Matter movement is now the largest movement in US history."
George Floyd's death also changed the face of US politics. His death happened five months before the November 3, 2020 Presidential election. The issue of race and black people was front and center on the Democratic platform. Kamala Harris promised $60 billion for Historically Black Colleges and reparations for descendants of black slaves if she became President. Joe Biden promised racial equity for black people in housing and the appointment of people of color in his cabinet and in the White House.
The public was demanding that government and business alike recognize and take action against racism and other "isms" like the #metoo movement. The list now includes women, people of color, LGBTQ, disabled... Reparations for past transgressions and inequalities must be made. And the government and business are responding.
Joe Biden appointed many people of color to his cabinet. Biden started the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE). Companies have changed their Mission Statements and Articles of Incorporation to include diversity statements. Businesses have hired Diversity Officers to educate and advise them on how to treat employees and customers fairly without racism or bias. They are analyzing the percent makeup of people on their boards, managerial teams, staff who are male/female, black/white/brown, disabled ... and trying to make their company better reflect the communities they serve. PR and media firms have been hired to shape and transform companies' public faces to appear non-biased or racist. They have been blackwashing their websites, branding and image.
Websites which used to have only white people now have only black people or mainly black people. There are now more women and people of color besides disabled and other people on public websites. These are all good and positive changes. Below are a few websites from before and after George Floyd's death. Only some websites that maintained the same format and allowed web.archive.org access are included for comparison. Click images to see larger. Before is on the left.
Wells Fargo Bank
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| The Blackwashing of America, by Mary Cummins, Los Angeles, California, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Black, White, George Floyd, death race, racial, discrimination, police brutality, metoo, blacklivesmatter, real estate |
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| The Blackwashing of America, by Mary Cummins, Los Angeles, California, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Black, White, George Floyd, death race, racial, discrimination, police brutality, metoo, blacklivesmatter, real estate |
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| The Blackwashing of America, by Mary Cummins, Los Angeles, California, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Black, White, George Floyd, death race, racial, discrimination, police brutality, metoo, blacklivesmatter, real estate |
It's been 17 months since George Floyd died. So far it doesn't appear that there has been much real change in the board rooms. Some companies have released their first Inclusion Annual Report. Mastercard's report shows that a very small percentage of the board or upper management is black or female. The percentage is much smaller than the general population. They did show the smallest amount of improvement in some categories but nothing has really changed much for women, black people or Latinos.
There also hasn't been much progress by the government giving money to black colleges. A Covid relief fund designated for only black people had to be offered to all because it was found to be unconstitutional. Joe Biden signed H.R. 40 which established a Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans but no progress has been made.
It will probably take another couple of years before we can tell if George Floyd's death actually made a difference in the lives of black people or if George Floyd's life really mattered to society as a whole. Maybe it was just an event used by government and big business for their own agendas of getting elected and making money. Time will tell. Actions speak louder than words and so far there is no real action. Black lives matter.
Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.
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