Injustice Anywhere

Is A Threat to Justice Everywhere

Martin Luther King Jr. said these powerful words. George Floyd’s death is a wake-up call to America about the injustice being perpetrated in our society that must end. This post outlines the many layers of injustice at work and suggests some actionable solutions to address them. As a note, this doesn’t represent a conservative or liberal position, just my personal views, and so I suspect almost everyone will find something to disagree with — that’s ok, let’s focus on what we agree about and take action on that together

To summarize my view, there are two high-level forces at play here that must be addressed:

1. Systemic Injustice (ie police brutality and criminal justice policy)— which requires legislative change and political leadership.
2. Individual Beliefs (ie racism and differences in culture) — which requires raising children that are not racist and teaching children in underprivileged communities values that lead to success and flourishing.

Police Brutality

First off, police brutality is unacceptably unjust. The police must be held accountable for murder just like anyone else. I both believe that the vast majority of police (like all humans) are well intentioned and that we have systemic issues to fix so that bad cops face swift punishment, removal from their positions and prosecution for criminal behavior. A great starting point here is addressing the undue influence that police unions have had on shielding unnecessarily violent cops from the appropriate consequences for their misconduct. See more on this topic and suggested solutions here. In short, we must implement systems to track and then rapidly and firmly punish police brutality like we do with any violent crimes.

Criminal Justice

Second, this is a reminder of the costs to our society of the combination of “tough on crime” and bias in our criminal justice system. Far too many people (particularly African-Americans) receive overly harsh punishments for non-violent crimes including long-term jail sentences. This is a tremendous waste of resources and even worse leads to broken homes and an ongoing cultural divide as huge percentages of the African-American community spend their lives incarcerated. Continuing this trend only perpetuates the divides between us and makes it less likely for future generations to be raised to live a peaceful productive life contributing to our mutual benefit. A solutions-oriented approach would continue to decriminalize drug possession and reduce jail times for non-violent offenses. Additionally, as people leave prison, businesses have an opportunity to contribute to the solution by creating employment and training programs that leverage former criminals for productive labor and provide valuable structure and education to support successful reintegration.

Broader Racism

Third, this is an opportunity for everyone to take a look at how racism is playing a role in other crucial decisions in our society. Obviously, there is the deplorably large percentage of the population that is explicitly racist and actively discriminating. This can be slowly addressed with one on one dialogue (see the story of Darryl Davis who befriended hundreds of KKK leaders ultimately resulting in their quitting the Klan). Probably more relevant for readers of this blog is the unintended biased that may subtly show up in sourcing talent, making hiring decisions, selecting expansion locations and countless other business decisions. Each of us can play a role in the solution by the ways we build our companies to ensure that we go out of our way to tap into diverse networks of talent, vendors and partners. I even heard the creative suggestion recently from an African-American leader that every successful business owner ‘adopt’ an African-American lead business to provide mentorship and support in helping accelerate their trajectory.

Culture and Economics

Fourth, if we want to see more equal representation across ethnicities in each socioeconomic strata, we have to change the vast gap in cultural context that begins with how we are raised. For example, a common and likely well-grounded stereotype is that Jewish, Chinese and Indian families place additional emphasis on the value of education and the pursuit of white collar training and jobs. The role models for many of these kids are entrepreneurs, professors, doctors and lawyers. Of course, many of these families also already have the means to set children up with opportunities to explore these areas from a young age. By contrast, within African-American communities who are the role models (too often athletes and musicians) and what are the values being taught (both by parents and mass media)? This part of the problem is of course heavily influenced by the criminal justice issues mentioned above and the incarceration of too many fathers in families of color and impoverished families more broadly.

This fourth aspect points more at inequality than injustice and it is perhaps one of the most difficult components of this topic to discuss, but also one of the most foundational and important to address. This requires early-life education (much of our psychological blueprint is established before the age of 5 — and while of course this can be changed, it leaves people at a significant disadvantage entering school and beyond). It also requires the establishment of mentorship programs in which role models engage with underprivileged youth deeply: both to inspire them to dream of a bigger opportunity and to coach them with the skills to reach that vision. In the same vein, we need to raise children in privileged communities without racism — with the ability to assess an individual’s character regardless of their ethnic background.

Conclusion

While this topic can be heavily charged, and in someways feel hopeless to align on and address, I think that ultimately there are a few simple high leverage solutions that can move us forward substantially. First, end the culture within police departments that tolerates police brutality both through better legislation and leadership. Second, reform our criminal justice system to stop incarcerating non-violent offenders for extended periods of time. Third, examine how racism may be showing up in your life and what ways you can contribute to your community to create opportunities to counteract racism in the broader society. Fourth, partner with nonprofit organizations that help educate our youth from the very beginning to spread a shared culture of growth and contribution.

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