Two Months Into Improving Centuries-Old Racial Inequality

On August 19, we unveiled Four Steps Forward to publicly put our stake in the ground, and we sent out a press release that also announced The College's new Center for Economic Empowerment and Equality.

I grappled with these stark truths in the days following George Floyd’s tragic death, and I wrote about them in this blog post. I was interviewed about my experiences as a Black man in corporate America, and offered my immediate response to centuries-old racial inequality.

Those platforms advanced ideas around the need to act, and in the weeks since, The College has taken meaningful steps to discuss what an action plan might look like.

After many drafts incorporating the perspectives of College colleagues and industry veterans, I penned an op-ed in Barron’s about The College’s Four Steps Forward plan for upward mobility and wealth building in Black America.

Then, this week, The College unveiled the pillars of this plan to over 1,300 Black financial professionals at the Conference of African American Financial Professionals, held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can watch my keynote address and closing remarks in the videos below. This year has been fraught with many challenges, but beyond an immense wave of initial sadness, I believe the circumstances surrounding George Floyd’s death, and those that followed, have put this nation at an inflection point. The financial services industry must stand on the frontlines now to harness this moment for lasting change.

As an industry, we can repeat the efforts of the past and achieve the same insufficient outcomes, or we can find common ground around a generational cause. Please watch my remarks below, and subscribe to my blog in the upper right corner for email notifications on our progress with this plan for change that’s sustainable and generational – real impact that goes beyond nice data points to erode systemic inequalities in the Black community.