Brilliant, right?
I love it so much!
So simple and easy to understand.
Some small scoops from $115 billion, devoted to resolving the deep-rooted issues that afflict the underprivileged AND, if unaddressed, cause an increase in the need for policing.
Affordable housing. Job training. Education. Mental-health counseling. Substance-abuse treatments.
Yes!
Can you guess the company, even though they were brave enough not to slap their logo on the graphic?
Of course, Ben & Jerry's.
They are a part of a giant company, Unilever - who in turn proved here that a giant company can look past business considerations.
Ben & Jerry's also wrote a fantastic blog post that was real, helpful, called for a specific action. Please read it.
Why don't more large companies, who've hired the best and the brightest humans in the world, step up to contribute to solving long-term massive challenges?
First, it is not easy. To say it requires courage is understating it times 50 million.
Second, the larger the company the more diverse the customer base, and you do this and you'll upset at least some of them (or a whole lot of them). That is scary - even if your morals are screwed in right.
Third, there is a clear financial risk. You can lose business.
Fourth, since you can't take direct credit for this work, for some companies it can be hard to justify.
Just check out the 209 comments on the Ben & Jerry's blog post above. Here's just one:
Michael Tomei: "You guys are a bunch of jerks anti American pig traitors. Never going to buy any of your products again."
Who wants this?
Almost no business.
That is what makes what Ben & Jerry's did so remarkable.
And, that is the type of courage we need from at least some of the forward-thinking large companies to walk their anti-racism talk.
We need the incredible talent, ideas, brilliance locked in companies working in Marketing, Analytics, Customer Service, Sales, Logistics, Finance and every other department.
We need them to work to change hearts and minds about mass incarceration, red-lining, school inequities, teaching the full American history, policing challenges, de-stigmatize mental health and substance abuse, and so many, many problems that fuel systematic racism in this country.
We need them to create visualizations, simple data info-snacks, videos to teach kids, a new curriculum for school, explain the relationships between police budgets and actual crime in America, show the deleterious impact of President Clinton's tough on crime policies, to tell stories about how seek help - and how to support - people with mental health challenges, to galvanize for change at the ballot box.. and so much more.
We need them because it is the only way to maintain a long-term focus required to change America.
Thank you Ben & Jerry's, and Unilever, for your courage, for filling me with hope.