Fortune redefines power, it’s time to get real about what it means to be a Black working mom, Facebook gets another open letter, and a photo essay about COVID’s impact on New York is a testament to pain, loss, and resilience.
But first, your self-care advice week in review, in Haiku.
I thought I’d have six
pack abs by now, a book deal
or a cooking show.
Did I even start
that language course? Do I speak
French yet? I’d know, right?
I can’t remember.
Good advice comes in post-it
note sized nuggets: Drink
water. Go outside.
Look up. Phone a friend. Or two.
Stop doom-scrolling!
Parfois une belle
vie est juste devant toi.
In any language.
Wishing you a simply happy weekend. Aric Jenkins will be off for the next two weeks, looking up, going outside, and hopefully enjoying life.
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
On point
We need to talk about power Fortune’s annual Most Powerful Women in business list is more than 20 years old now, and has focused on four major criteria: The size and importance of the woman’s business in the global economy, the health and direction of the business, the arc of the woman’s career, and her social and cultural influence. But this year, we’re looking for something new — how she has wielded her power to shape her company and the world to address a pressing social need. We’re looking for women with some skin in the game, and we’re open — someone who instituted policy changes to help pandemic-stricken workers, instituted a measurable sustainability initiative, remedied the racial/gender wage gap. Nominate the powerful women you admire below. And let’s redefine power for good.
Fortune
Black mothers in the workforce Yesterday I moderated a panel co-produced by the amazing folks at Hello Sunshine about Black working mothers — so often the family breadwinners, so rarely the CEOs…or the people who get venture capital or picked for the high potential pool, or meaningful advancement at work. I was joined by five incredible women who did not hold back: Blessing Adesiyan: Founder & CEO of Mother Honestly and Villo; Alexis Jemal, Assistant Professor of Social Work at Hunter College; Eve Rodsky, the New York Times best-selling author of Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live); Katica Roy: Gender economist and the CEO and founder of the software company Pipeline, and Michelle Silverthorn, founder & CEO of consultancy, Inclusion Nation. There was laughter, there were tears, we may have accidentally started a SuperPac. (I’m not sure I’m joking.) The conversation was outstanding, but the comments will give you life. Enjoy.
Black Mothers In The Workforce
Twenty state attorneys general call on Facebook to do more to end discrimination on the platform They got right to the point. “Although Facebook has made some progress in counteracting the use of its platform to dehumanize and demean, that is just the beginning of what is necessary,” the attorneys general wrote in a public letter. “Private parties, organized groups, and public officials continue to use Facebook to spread misinformation and project messages of hate against different groups of Americans. In many cases, these messages lead to intimidation and harassment of particular individuals online.” Facebook is already experiencing a widespread advertiser boycott — including Coca-Cola, Best Buy, Ford and Verizon—nudged by civil rights organizations to put pressure on the company.
TechCrunch
The Black book club, reimagined While the sisterhood of Black women readers has been an important, if largely under-documented force in American history, the idea of a literary gatherings has taken on an even richer life under quarantine. Iman Stevenson does a beautiful job tracing the history of Black literary societies from the 19 th century to the present, and the value of their key, organizing principle: Conversation away from and uninformed by the white gaze. But now more than ever, these conversations matter. Referring to the newish Noname Book Club, an online reading group created by Los Angeles-based rapper Noname, focused on texts by authors of color, Stevenson says, it’s a timing thing. “People are turning to [these Black-led clubs] in the midst of a virus that has alienated people from their communities and a continuing global conversation about anti-Black racism.”
New York Times
On background
NYC: A pandemic in pictures There is a new and bittersweet meme going around, a month-by-month photo array depicting of a celebrity’s journey through the pandemic – each portrait, starting around March, a picture of increasing alarm, fear and despair, until it dead ends into the same numb expression. (Reese Witherspoon. Viola Davis. Mindy Kaling, come on.) It’s so funny, it hurts. But Daniel Arnold’s beautiful photo essay in the New York Times manages to build on that progression, keeping it real with poignancy and reverence, capturing what it felt like to be in New York in the earliest days of looming dread and into lockdown, through grief and deep despair, and then a flicker of hope. It’s been a journey, New York.
New York Times
Why do people love the Confederate flag? When Donna Ladd, a journalist based in Jackson, Mississippi, asked why people still love their Confederate flag despite its history, the answers were mostly what you’d expect. But the history itself is at issue. White resentment from the Civil War and Reconstruction persists in Mississippi; along with a high number of casualties, the state went from being the richest from slavery to one of the poorest. But a revised version of Civil War events underlies their efforts to “preserve their history,” and Ladd is admirably armed with facts that dispute the idea that the South seceded over state’s rights and not slavery. But the wounds still seem fresh. “People like me … it’s in our blood. We know about our family, their sacrifices,” says Larry McCluney, Jr, a national officer in the Sons of Confederate Veterans. “Slavery was an issue, but not the cause.”
The Guardian
Let’s talk about system change Sheila Cannon is a researcher and assistant professor of social entrepreneurship at Trinity College Dublin. In this fascinating piece, she explores what it actually takes to get entrenched systems and societal attitudes to change, using what she’s learned, in part from her research on the LGBT movement in Ireland and the decades long quest to turn same sex relationships from a crime to a human right. In this case, she’s tackling climate change, building on the momentum created by Greta Thunberg, the teen Swedish climate activist. The idea is to not adopt “token gestures” that may hurt more than they help. “System change happens when we don’t take our assumptions for granted, which allows more and more people to question the status quo,” she says. Click through for her whole rationale and be prepared to do some soul — or bottom line — searching. “Capitalism may seem permanent, but research shows that systems inevitably change over time, and are ultimately created and reinforced by us. But in order to change anything, people must question their own role in the system first.”
Silicon Republic
raceAhead is edited by Aric Jenkins.
Today's mood board
The cleanup is underway in Beirut. Click here to learn how to help in the aftermath of the devastating explosion that has left at least 137 dead and 4,000 injured.
