Top CEOs admit racial divide, promise to work for "real change"
15 October 2020
In a striking new sign of the broader role corporations are shouldering in society, Business Roundtable — the CEOs of America's biggest companies — today announced a raft of initiatives "to advance racial equity and justice."
Why it matters: Big companies are bluntly admitting, and tackling, injustices they so long ignored and perpetuated.
"Every American has been challenged by the events of this year but not equally," the BRT says. "[C]ommunities of color are bearing a disproportionate burden, widening an already large racial divide in America."
- "[T]he events of 2020 have illustrated how far we still have to go to ensure that every person can fully realize opportunity and justice in America."
The CEOs are promising to push for "real change" in six areas: employment, finance, education, health, housing and criminal justice.
- They promise to "make philanthropic investments, update employment practices and innovate within their businesses ... and will continue to engage with policymakers at the federal, state and local level."
Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon, the Business Roundtable chairman, writes in USA Today:
[I]t's clear we need to do more. It's also clear that we, alone, can’t accomplish what has to be done. It will take broad cooperation of leaders from every sector of society working together.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.