Shundrawn A. Thomas, president of Northern Trust Asset Management and the author of “Discover Joy in Work: Transforming Your Occupation,” has issued an open letter to corporate America about racism and the need for all people to work to eliminate racism in society and in corporations across the country.
Thomas has addressed the issue many times in the past but said the recent incident involving Jacob Blake, a 29-yer-old black man who was shot on Kenosha, Wis., last month by a white police officer and is now paralyzed, has raised the issue again.
The letter is an acknowledgement that racism is difficult for corporate America to address. He noted that as an African-American executive, “restraining his emotions and suppressing his pain in regard to systemic racism has been necessary to his success in corporate America,” his spokesman said.
The letter is printed below:
OPEN LETTER TO CORPORATE AMERICA: I CAN’T FEEL MY PAIN
Kenosha, Wisconsin has become a new epicenter of both peaceful and violent protests sparked by the recent shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year old Black man. A viral video captures the crucial moments when Mr. Blake is shot in the back seven times by police officers, after appearing to ignore their orders. The incident eerily echoes a number of police shootings in cities around the country. It strikes a raw nerve in a country wrestling with ongoing systemic racism affecting communities of color — especially Black Americans.
Inequitable treatment within the criminal justice system has enlivened a more vigorous racial justice movement over the past several years. The movement, and associated crucial conversations regarding race, have made their way into the genteel halls of corporate America. Race has been the dominant social construct in the Western world for nearly half a millennium. It impacts every practical aspect of society and is one of our deepest areas of divide. However, like politics and religion, race is a “third rail” in corporate cultures. It is commonly accepted that race should not be discussed in polite company. As a result, conversations about race within American companies are generally limited and prescribed.
As an African American executive, I can offer this assessment: the challenges that Black Americans face inside and outside of corporate America are, frankly, unremarkable. Race, racism and racist ideas have impacted me in tangible ways throughout my life and career. What is remarkable, however, is the current shift in the dialogue about race and the increased acknowledgement of the unique experience and circumstances of Black people in America. Kenosha, Wisconsin is about an hour drive from where I live in Chicago, so the coverage of the current unrest is practically local news.
It is against this backdrop that a fellow executive reached out to me. “How are you dealing with the Jacob Blake shooting?” he asked. I was struggling to process this most recent development in light of my active engagement in the racial dialogue over the past three months. “I can’t fully articulate how I feel except to say it is disheartening,” I remarked. That was all I could muster, though I appreciated his earnest inquiry. After we concluded our conversation, I came to a stark realization.
I can’t feel my pain.
Pain hurts because it should. It is the body’s way of telling us that something in our internal or external environment presents a danger to our physical or mental health. When the body is injured or something is wrong, our nerves send messages to our brains about what’s going on. Our brains then make us feel pain with the express purpose of saving us from further or critical injury. This is true as it pertains to our physical and mental health. In the same way that our nerves send constant messages to our brains to inform our physiological condition, our emotions send consistent messages to our hearts to inform our psychological condition. And herein lies the crux of the challenge for Black Americans navigating the social construct of race within corporate America:
As Black faces navigating predominantly white spaces, we cannot comfortably address what we experience and feel.