HSA Michael Lomax-JH Edited-FINAL-1-14-21
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DMichaelR Lomax hasE a dream:AM helping others realize theirs Jeffrey G. Harris, MBA & Richard A. Skinner, Ph.D. he killing of George Floyd made the nation face up to a cruel reality: The United States criminal justice system is not colorblind. Appalled by videos chronicling Floyd’s final moments, hundreds of thousands of protesters — Black and WhiteT alike — took to the streets demanding an end to police LISTEN IN brutality and the eradication of systemic racism within law enforcement. Meanwhile, soaring COVID-19 infection rates among minorities laid bare profound disparities in the delivery, consumption and effectiveness of the U.S. healthcare system. One of the most v alarming statistics: Black Americans are three times more likely than White Americans to contract the virus and twice as likely to die from it. Researchers scrambling to explain such disparities have cited numerous factors, including discrimination, economic inequality, occupational risk and a longstanding dearth of Black physicians. Although Blacks make up 13% of the U.S. population, Michael L. Lomax, PhD, they constitute just 4% of the nation’s physicians. president and CEO of UNCF, “The low number of Black physicians,” the National Institutes of assesses the long-term Health concluded in a recent report, “is itself a crisis.” impact of 2020 in the latest Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., isn’t an I-told-you-so kind of guy. If, installment of Innovators. however, anyone had ample justification to shake his head in The podcast, presented by righteous indignation, it would be Lomax. After all, he has spent the Harris Search Associates, is bulk of his adult life not only decrying racial inequities but also, available on the web at more importantly, seeking remedies — most rooted in educational HarrisSearch.com and on opportunity. leading podcast platforms, Since 2004, Lomax has been president and CEO of UNCF including Libsyn, Apple (United Negro College Fund), the organization behind one of the Podcasts, Google Podcasts, nonprofit sector’s most iconic mottos: “A mind is a terrible thing to Stitcher, and Spotify. waste.”® As People magazine put it in a profile published earlier this year, Lomax’s lifework is to give young Blacks “an option that is just a dream for many who don’t have the means.” That option, of course, is a college education. v Fibonacci Blue / Creative Commons The killing of George Floyd prompted hundreds of thousands of protestors — Black and White alike — to demand sweeping reforms. UNCF, which bills itself as “the nation’s largest thousands of students it has aided, on the nation’s and most effective minority education HBCUs and on America’s minority community as organization,” has a three-pronged mission: a whole. supporting students’ education and development Over its 76-year history, UNCF has raised through scholarships and other programs; more than $5 billion in donations — almost $3 strengthening its 37 member colleges and billion in the past decade alone. That money has universities, all historically Black institutions; and enabled more than 500,000 students to earn advocating for college readiness for all Americans college degrees. and support for all historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). “UNCF envisions a nation where all Americans Turning point? have equal access to a college education that n a just-released installment of Innovators, a prepares them for rich intellectual lives, podcast produced by the higher education competitive and fulfilling careers, engaged executive search firm Harris Search citizenship and service to our nation,” the Associates, Lomax speculated on the long- organization says in its manifesto. “UNCF’s Iterm significance of Floyd’s death and mission is to build a robust and nationally COVID-19’s disproportionate toll on minorities: recognized pipeline of underrepresented students Will they prove to be true inflection points — who, because of UNCF support, become highly history-altering occurrences that finally prompt qualified college graduates and to ensure that our the nation to recognize, and rectify, the 400 years network of member institutions is a respected of discrimination and degradation that Blacks model of best practice in moving students to and have endured at the hands of White oppressors? through college.” “I think the jury's still out as to whether this is The organization says its “North Star” is “to a moment — the beginning of a movement — or increase the total annual number of African something of a blip,” Lomax told Innovators host American college graduates by focusing on Richard A. Skinner, PhD, a two-time former activities that ensure more students are college- university president who now serves as a senior ready, enroll in college and persist to graduation.” consultant for Harris Search Associates. Since its founding in 1944, UNCF has, by most any measure, had a profound impact — on the In the wake of Floyd’s death, conventional Lomax said this summer via social media that he wisdom seems to be leaning toward “movement.” was “buoyed and uplifted” by the donors’ generosity The protests that began in Minneapolis, where and added that he would do everything in his power Floyd died May 25, quickly spread nationwide, to ensure that such “incredible gifts” delivered the fueled by allegations of police brutality or excessive “maximum impact.” force in communities as far-flung as Buffalo, New Nevertheless, in his conversation with York; Lancaster, California; Vinita, Oklahoma; Innovators, Lomax was cautious in characterizing Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Sylvania, Georgia; the past year and in assessing its overarching Tuscaloosa, Alabama; and Lafayette, Louisiana. significance in the struggle for racial equality. Then came the reports that the novel coronavirus “This may be a changing point,” Lomax told was no equal-opportunity killer. “Too Many Black Skinner, “but I’m not certain that it is, because at Americans Are Dying from COVID-19,” read the the same time you’re seeing so many strongly held headline of an August 1 editorial in Scientific views that are supportive of African Americans, American. The subhead was equally blunt: “The you’re also seeing a lot of opposition. I do feel that as pandemic has exposed a glaring health gap caused much as racial attitudes have changed, a lot of old by systemic racism.” racial attitudes are being revealed.” Many journalists, editorial writers and television At 73, Lomax has witnessed many spasms of pundits rushed to declare that fundamental change social conscience. Unfortunately, all too often, the was afoot. A Google search reveals that no fewer zeal of the moment gives way to apathy and the than 239 news stories have characterized Floyd’s accompanying activism dissipates — because of killing as “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” A fatigue, ennui or shifting priorities, because of headline in Time magazine heralded “America’s withering pressure to maintain the status quo, or Long Overdue Awakening to Systemic Racism,” because of delusions of victory. while The New York Times proclaimed, “Black “If I’m not pessimistic,” Lomax said, “I’m at least Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. not going to take my eye off of the fact that we have History.” In an interview with Business Insider, to continue to keep fighting for what we want — and journalist Malcolm Gladwell, author of the best- I don’t mean being violent or pugnacious; I mean seller The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can just being determined and persistent. I tell my Make a Big Difference, suggested that Floyd’s death grandchildren: ‘Nothing is going to be given to you. and its fallout might represent a true "tipping point” You’ve got to fight for it, and you’re going to have to in American policing. continue to fight to hold on to what we’ve The events of 2020 also triggered an achieved.’” unprecedented philanthropic outpouring. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg committed $100 million to four historically Black Firsthand perspective medical schools: Meharry Medical College, the omax was born in Los Angeles in 1947, two Morehouse School of Medicine, the Howard years after the end of World War II. Race had University College of Medicine, and the Charles R. moved to the forefront of the American Drew University of Medicine and Science. A consciousness, driven in large part by the number of HBCUs received record-setting Lhomecoming of more than 1 million Black veterans donations from the likes of novelist MacKenzie who, having risked their lives to defeat oppression Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; Netflix abroad, hoped to enjoy the fruits of freedom in their CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin; and own country. hedge fund manager Seth Klarman and his wife, Other forces for change included the Beth Schultz Klarman. introduction of anti-discriminatory reforms in “Like many, I watched the first half of 2020 with public policy at the federal level, the northward a mixture of heartbreak and horror,” Scott wrote in migration of hundreds of thousands of Blacks from a social media post. “Life will never stop finding the Jim Crow South, and the growth of civil rights fresh ways to expose inequities in our systems, or organizations such as the Congress of Racial waking us up to the fact that a civilization this Equality (CORE) and the National Association for imbalanced is not only unjust but also unstable. the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), What fills me with hope is the thought of what will which, during the war, experienced a tenfold jump come if each of us reflects on what we can offer.” in membership. In Lomax’s childhood home, the fight for racial equality — and the other issues of the day — were THROUGH always front and center, thanks to Lomax’s THE YEARS father, a prominent attorney, and his mother, a pioneering 1944 journalist and UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is newspaper publisher.