We Can Do Better. Here is How.
This is a universal issue.
John F Kennedy said once: “It is not enough to pin the blame on others, to say this is a problem of one section of the country or another, or deplore the fact that we face. A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all.“
I am blessed to be surrounded each day by a team rich with diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, ages, and experiences, with many perspectives and voices to contribute. I have needed to do very little to create a relationship of respect among them except try to foster a forum where hard and serious conversations can occur (albeit over Zoom) and promote understanding, and not always force agreement. My team is doing the rest. Many are angry, most are sad, all are concerned and everyone is affected
Allyship is hard and a lifelong process but we’re trying. We all need to try harder.
As stewards of our client’s marketing and often their public image on social media, we are asked for our counsel during such unusual times. We encourage our clients to please speak out. Now is not the time to be quiet. Dr. King said, “We will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Ideally, let your voice be heard in public, but if not there, then at least start a dialog among your team. The wine industry needs to start the conversation and take action, beginning with encouraging diversity in our teams, fostering understanding of differences, building stronger relationships, and supporting non-white wine professionals.
Please join us in trying to educate ourselves and others. While not exhaustive, here are some resources we’re using to help us do just that:
WATCH
READ
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Divided Sisters by Midge Wilson and Kathy Russell
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts
Locking Up Our Own by James Forman
The Miner’s Canary by Lani Guiner and Gerald Torres
The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
LISTEN
Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
Pod For The Cause (Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
Parenting Forward podcast episode ‘Five Pandemic Parenting Lessons with Cindy Wang Brandt’
Fare of the Free Child Podcast
SUPPORT
DONATE
Communities United Against Police Brutality
American Civil Liberties Union
#EQUALITY
