Lorraine Cole

Lorraine Cole: Good afternoon, everyone on behalf of the Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion known as OMWI, welcome to our webinar, Beyond Words, Race, Work, and Allyship amid the George Floyd tragedy. This program is a collaboration between the OMWI directors at the eight federal financial agencies. Lora McCray, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Claire Lam, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Sharron Levine, Federal Housing Finance Agency; Sheila Clark, Federal Reserve Board; Monica Davy, National Credit Union Administration; Joyce Cofield, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; Pamela Gibbs, Securities and Exchange Commission; and me Lorraine Cole, US Department of the Treasury. We thank you for being among the 8,500 people joining us this afternoon. Before we begin, we have an invitation and a request for you. First, we invite you to submit questions throughout the session. Use the Q and A tab at the bottom of the screen. Be sure to indicate who your question is directed to. Later in the conversation, Monica will provide audience questions to our speakers. Of course, we won't be able to get to every question, but all questions will be compiled as a resource for other discussions. Secondly, at the end of the session, we ask that you give us your feedback. Use the survey tab at the bottom of your screen to respond to a few quick items. Now, it's my privilege to introduce our speakers. They are two of the nation's preeminent thought leaders on social change, Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole and Mr. Howard Ross. When Dr. Johnnetta Cole was featured on the cover of Diversity Woman magazine, the editors put one word next to her name: nonpareil. She has dedicated her career and her life to reversing systems of racial and gender inequity. Dr. Cole served as president of both historically Black institutions for women, Spelman College and Bennett College. She also was director of the Smithsonian Museum of African Art. Currently, Dr. Cole is the president and chair of the National Council of Negro Women, an organization that powered African American women, their families, and communities for more than 85 years. A prolific scholar with a doctorate in anthropology, she is also the recipient of 69 honorary degrees. Dr. Cole is such an American icon that her ceremonial robe, cap, and gown that she wore as a college president is now on exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Howard Ross also appeared on a magazine cover, featured in a recent issue of Inclusion magazine. He is a lifelong social justice advocate and recognized as one of the world's seminal voices on mitigating unconscious bias. Mr. Ross is the founder of Cook Ross, the premier consulting firm that focuses on organizational culture change. He recently founded Udarta Consulting, concentrating on high impact projects that dismantle the invisible walls between people. A much sought after consultant and speaker, he has delivered programs in 47 states and over 40 countries to many of the leading corporations and organizations in the world. Mr. Ross is the author of three groundbreaking books, "Reinventing Diversity," followed by the Washington Post bestseller, "Everyday Bias," and his latest title, "Our Search For Belonging." The moderator of today's conversation is Rodney Hood, the chairman of the National Credit Union Administration. Mr. Hood holds the distinction of being the first African American appointed to lead a federal banking agency. He previously served as vice chairman of the NCUA board under the George W. Bush administration. Immediately prior to rejoining the NCUA board as chairman, Mr. Hood served as a corporate responsibility manager for JP Morgan Chase. So with that, Chairman Hood, I pass the mic to you. 1 Chairman Rodney Hood: Great, and thank you for that very kind and gracious introduction. Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to have the opportunity to moderate this important conversation between Dr. Johnnetta Cole and Mr. Howard Ross on the different perceptions of race related incidents. For me, these discussions are more than simple abstracts. They are personal to me in every way. In my banking career, I've attended conferences and professional events where I was the only man of color in the room. I've often arrived early to speak on panel discussions and other activities where I wanted to get an early start. And people were actually surprised that that young man behind the microphone was actually one of the participants and not someone who was just there foolishly playing around. I vividly remember the conversations with my father when I was young about how to engage with police when pulled over and mother routinely performing safety checks on my car before I went on weekends to ensure the signal and brake lights were all functioning properly. In 2020, I sadly find myself having similar conversations with young African American cousins and young African American men I mentor. As an African American man, I am shocked and appalled and share the heartbreak of many in the Black community. I'm all too familiar with the anger and frustration that comes with the everyday challenges and realities surrounding race. While I indeed pray for justice, healing, and peace for our nation and for the family and loved ones of George Floyd, I am also encouraging everyone to have difficult conversations and to look for ways to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within our communities. Individually and collectively, we can all make a difference. One conversation, one relationship, and one community at a time. I'd now like to begin today by getting straight to the central issue at hand. I'm now going to pose a few questions. We have been here before the protest for equal rights and civil unrest with calls for justice after senseless incidents involving Black people and police abuse of authority. But the tragic killing of George Floyd caused a major seismic shift across the nation and I dare even say the world. Could you both please tell me what's the difference this time and where are we and why are we at this particular point now? We will begin with you, Dr. Cole. Johnnetta Cole: First, I want to thank you if I may call you this, Brother chairman. You have so accurately and very movingly set the stage for this conversation. My only other introductory comment before addressing your first question is to say that while my Dr. Cole did a wonderful, I'd even say, overly generous introduction of myself and of Howard Ross. She did fail to say one thing and that is that Howard Ross and I have a very long and a very special professional and personal relationship. I remember saying the other day when we were in a conversation, if I'm in a situation where things are really, really not just tough, but threatening to my life, I want Howard Ross to be nearby. I deeply admire his, not just allyship, but his activism around the issues that the three of us including now, Dr. Cole, my Dr. Cole, the four of us, care about so deeply. So Brother Chair, you have asked, what's different about world? To respond, allow me to offer a notion, a concept. It's the idea that we as Black folk, just like other communities, we have a collective memory. We don't just live our lives remembering only what has happened to us or even what has happened to our family. We are conscious of what has happened to our people. I have the strong feeling that when a policeman's knee went into the neck of George Floyd for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, almost nine minutes, and we saw that, the people of America and the world saw that. For Black people, it had an unusual pain. Our collective memory took us back. I think first to the shackles put on our necks during that period 2 of enslavement. But come down now, even after the horrors of being owned and abused and justifying that horrific experience by defining us as inferior, come to the period of reconstruction when our necks again are now the parts of our bodies experiencing the most horrific expressions of racism. I'm speaking of lynching. And as the Equal Justice Institute so ably and wonderfully led by our brother, Bryan Stevenson, reminds us, that kind of racial terror was used against Black men, Black women, and Black children. And so when we saw that knee on the neck of George Floyd, yet we did remember, we did remember all of the recent incidents of racial violence and terror, but there was something in our collective memory that made that incident more than ever before. I can't conclude and invite my bro, as I call Howard Ross, to give his perspective without saying, with all of my concern and pain, anguish over what has happened recently, I dare, I dare to have guarded hope and optimism. Because for the first time, in my many, many years on earth, I have heard White Americans use language that is so often only spoken in marginalized communities. I have read corporate leaders, government officials, everyday citizens, saying this is enough as they actually speak of White supremacy and systemic racism. So thank you for calling us into this conversation. May we indeed go beyond the words. Chairman Rodney Hood: Thank you, Ma'am. Howard Ross: Thanks so much, sis. I appreciate the gracious introductions and your statements particularly touched my heart and I feel the same way about you.

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