Op-ed: Unshackling the potential of every American in the wake of George Floyd killing

FAN Editor

Terrence Floyd (C) attends a vigil where his brother George Floyd was killed by police one week ago on June 1, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Stephen Maturen | Getty Images

George Floyd’s public execution made a lifetime of anger, frustration, and pain acute for me and many Americans. But the compounding crises of structural inequality, plummeting economic mobility, mounting death tolls, and ongoing injustice and brutality have been raging for generations.

This moment we’re now in should never have happened — but became destined as we failed to reckon with our hardest truths and pursue solutions bold and big enough for the problems we face as a nation. 

We have failed to deliver the justice each extinguished life deserves.  We must — but ending overt brutality will not be enough.

The systemic dangers of being Black in America have been “easy” to disregard because, as Bryan Stevenson noted, “The great evil of American slavery wasn’t the involuntary servitude; it was the fiction that black people aren’t as good as white people, and aren’t the equals of white people, and are less evolved, less human, less capable, less worthy, less deserving than white people.”

We have failed to confront this insidious lie and unlearn our greatest biases. We must — but that also will not be enough. 

The continued growth of the U.S. economy, healthy stock market, and quality of the top slice of Americans’ lives have made it easy to ignore the crumbling of the American Dream and the centuries-old systemic barriers to living and thriving for Black, Brown, and Native American people. 

Since the 1940s the odds of achieving the American Dream — a better, more prosperous life than your parents — have declined for all Americans from over 90% to barely a 50/50 chance.

While African Americans are graduating from college at record levels and starting businesses at among the highest rates, 70% of middle-class Black children will fall out of the middle class over their lifetimes. And COVID-19 has laid bare the myriad ways economic inequity is a proxy for much deadlier disparities.

That’s why we can’t just put the pieces back together after the protests or try to recover the economy we had after the recession. What we had is not enough. We must rebuild a nation that unleashes the potential of every American — enabling us to solve the problems of our communities, the nation, and the world.

It may sound aspirational, but consider this. We know that solutions exist to help every young person thrive — from before birth to adulthood reaching the milestones that lead to a productive and healthy life. Many face real impediments along the way, but here too, there are proven strategies to prevent them or lessen their effects, which is critical for supporting economic mobility.

This is why I remain optimistic, even during the most difficult times. Through my work with Blue Meridian Partners, I have the privilege to invest in committed leaders who have solutions to problems once thought intractable. 

Mothers get better prenatal care. Foster children get permanent homes. Criminal records are cleared for thousands. Youth gain experience to enter the workforce prepared for success.  And, communities use data, transparency, and the wisdom of lived experience to put opportunity in the path of each child and family.

When people in communities come together across differences, face their hard truths, set big goals — and commit to invest in and do what it takes to achieve them — problems are solved and lives are transformed.  If we follow suit, so too it will be for our country.

Jim Shelton is the chief investment and impact officer at Blue Meridian Partners and former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. He is also a senior social impact advisor to KKR and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. 

Free America Network Articles

Leave a Reply

Next Post

As George Floyd is honored, pressure mounts on police - and Trump

  12m ago Congresswoman: Police reform package will be about “accountability” Police reform legislation being drafted in the House will focus on “accountability” for officers, says Congresswoman Karen Bass. Bass, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, talked about the legislative package currently being written in the wake of George […]