Today, this is not a message about business.
Due to the pandemic that’s taken the world to her knees, we are divided in unimaginable ways - yet there is a clear need for us to stand closer together. #WeAll are acutely aware that we must do more in work and in life to address unconscious bias in the workplace. We must also confront a deeper racism, hate, and inequality in uncomfortable ways. This isn’t about merely “starting a conversation.” It’s about changing an entire society’s way and ending suffering.
#WeAll must step up to show our blatant intolerance of just one kind of person only - the intolerant one.
I am very aware that I don’t have the answer to solving racism but do have one voice that I can use to speak out against racism and inequality. I started livingHR for a lot of reasons, but a foundational one was that there was a need to create a new deal between organizations and their people. I was disgusted by the way people were marginalized and mistreated at work. Work was where I saw every form of discrimination, met (and fired) racists, saw sexual harassment and assault, you name it; if it happens outside of work, it happens inside of it too because these are humanity’s challenges. This all compelled me to lend a voice to the people that so often did not use their own for fear of losing their jobs, or worse.
The workplace is the venue I choose to make better because it’s the world I happen to know the best. I know the same is true for many of you. I have always held onto these words by Martin Luther King Jr.: “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Today, black men and women need our love, need us to use our voices, and need us to take action. They do not have to live in fear, and they can ensure that they experience real opportunity.
There are many other fights about inequality that also need our voice, and I understand this. Speaking out right now against racism in support of #GeorgeFloyd and black lives doesn’t mean other inequalities cease to exist. So, I will continue to speak out and take action when I see any hate surface. I will continue to look for more we can do to end hate and make lives better in and out of work. Today that means speaking out for the black community. This is not a political issue to me, it’s a human one.
I am always here and welcome any conversations or ideas for action that livingHR can take. We will continue to step up for humanity and not only lift the helpers but be them too.
Here for you,
Keri Higgins-Bigelow, livingHR CEO
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