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The murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 by the white police officer, Derek Chauvin, led to an increase in public interest in the impact of ongoing racism and discrimination. Around the world, people took to the streets to call for justice and equality. There were protests, demonstrations, acts of civil disobedience. There were sit-ins, die-ins, and waves of internet activism. At the centre of many of these protests was Black Lives Matter, a grassroots political movement launched by three Black women in the US, following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

The murder of George Floyd captured on video translated into extensive soul-searching both personally and in the business world, followed by meaningful attempts to advance social justice in the workplace through the creation of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) programmes and a much greater consciousness of inequality. Racial equity became a top priority for corporate America and across the globe. Nearly $70 billion was pledged towards racial equity work. Diversity and inclusion officers soon became high-demand positions.

But now, much of that progress is at risk. Faced with geopolitical volatility, energy crises and an economic downturn, investment in EDI has begun to slow and there is evidence to suggest that EDI budgets are being cut. The director general of the Institute of Directors in the UK has warned that the task of progress could be eroded, and the UK government is under pressure to cut supposedly woke causes which include the drive for greater diversity, inclusion and equity from the public sector.

Maybe this is to be expected. Last in, first out often a method of redundancy selection can apply to just about everything, and EDI initiatives launched in the last two or three years are now being targeted. Organisations are also struggling to determine how best to implement EDI initiatives and how to measure their impact, making it harder to tie investments directly to results. But the idea that EDI has less value than other business areas betrays a misunderstanding. And though it goes without saying that organisations have to be financially prudent, this misunderstanding could be costly.

We need to remember that what were trying to achieve with the implementation of EDI and similar initiatives is the undoing of prejudices and injustices entrenched over centuries as they manifest in the world of work. Addressing these injustices is clearly the ethical response and it provides an enormous benefit to wider society, by helping to create a more just world. And since businesses are in dialogue with society they dont exist outside of it EDI helps to create a virtuous cycle, whereby businesses help to make society more equitable, diverse and inclusive, and society influences businesses in return.

But businesses also stand to benefit from stronger performance when they create inclusive environments that tap into unique perspectives and skillsets. McKinsey & Company has conclusively shown that high gender diversity corresponds to higher profitability and productivity. The most ethnic and culturally diverse companies outperform the least by a third in terms of profitability. Meanwhile, The Boston Consulting Group has said that investing in increasing EDI at the management level is a slam dunk for businesses. These companies find unconventional solutions to problems and generate more and better ideas, with a greater likelihood that some of them will become winning products and services in the market, the articles say. As a result, they outperform their peers financially.

Businesses with greater EDI are also more attractive to customers. Gen Z in particular are demanding more EDI from brands, and the vast majority (75 per cent) say they will boycott companies that discriminate based on race and sexuality in their advertisements (something far more likely to happen in homogenous teams). This generation, who are growing in purchasing power and having an outsize influence on the culture as a whole, want to buy from companies that look like all of humanity, not just one segment of it. This should be a major consideration of companies considering taking their foot off the pedal on EDI.

So what should businesses do now, faced with economic uncertainty? My answer is simple: they should double down. The more they invest, and the more intelligently they invest, the faster change happens, and the quicker they will derive the enormous benefits of EDI benefits that will help them to ride out this and future crises. Businesses should be led by the data, and the data on the value of EDI is in, and conclusive. By doubling down, they can play their part in preserving and advancing the gains made in the aftermath of George Floyds tragic murder, and help to create a better world. They will also position themselves to be far more competitive than their peers who cut EDI programmes now.

Monica McCoy is CEO and founder of Monica Motivates

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Why businesses should double down on EDI to weather economic ... - People Management Magazine

One of the two Black lawmakers expelled April 7 from the GOP-led Tennessee House was reinstated and continued his call for meaningful gun control legislation in what has been a lifetime of activism.

CBS News reports that Nashvilles Metro Council voted unanimously Monday (April 10) to return Rep. Justin Jones to the state Legislature, restoring the 27-year-old Democrat to the seat Republicans stripped from him over his protest of gun violence.

"I'm hopeful for the days ahead for Tennessee, not because of the actions of this body, but because of the actions of the people out there, the thousands gathered outside this chamber right now, who are calling for something better, Jones told his legislative colleagues shortly after his reinstatement.

He added: "We will continue to be your voice. And no expulsion, no attempt to silence us will stop us, but it will only galvanize and strengthen our movement. And we will continue to show up in the people's house."

What happened last Friday was an extraordinary move by the Republican supermajority. Forced expulsions are rare in the Tennessee House, according to The Tennessean. Only eight lawmakers in the states history were removed from office, including six following the Civil War.

Republicans accused Jones and fellow Democrats Reps. Gloria Johnson and Justin Pearson, dubbed the Tennessee Three, of leading an inappropriate protest with anti-gun violence demonstrators from the House chamber.

The protest was a response to yet another mass shooting in the nation. On March 27, shooter Audrey Hale, armed with assault-style rifles, fatally shot three 9-year-old children and three staff members at The Covenant School, a private Christian school, in Nashville.

GOP House members voted to expel Jones and Pearson, a 28-year-old Black lawmaker from Memphis, in a controversial vote that garnered national attention and criticism as anti-democratic and racist move. Johnson, a white 60-year-old retired teacher from Knoxville, survived the expulsion vote.

Here are five things to know about Jones who entered politics as a community organizer in Nashville, using activist skills he honed as an HBCU student.

Jones graduated from Fisk University with a bachelors degree in political science, according to his bio. While at the Nashville HBCU, Jones received the John R. Lewis Scholarship for social activism. He spent his time at Fisk organizing student-led campaigns for the expansion of health care in Tennessee, the repeal of voter ID laws and accountability for police brutality. Hes currently working on a graduate degree in theological studies at Vanderbilt University.

As a high school student in Oakland, Calif., Jones says he was on the front line as an organizer after the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Black teenager fatally shot in 2012 by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in Florida. Zimmermans acquittal ignited nationwide protests.

He also led student campaigns to repeal Stand Your Ground laws, which are on the books in several states and allow people to use deadly force against someone whom they believe is a threat.

Jones told The Tennessean that John Lewis, the iconic civil rights leader and congressman, has been a guiding force in my life.

Lewis, Fisk graduate who died in 2020, was chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was one of the youngest leaders involved in several seminal civil rights marches, including the 1963 March on Washington and the Selma to Montgomery Marches.

I worked in D.C. the summer he led the sit-in in Congress calling for common sense gun legislation after the Pulse Nightclub massacre, Jones stated. That was a transformative moment for me in seeing the movement in political spaces from a sitting elected official.

Jones told The Tennessean that he ran for the state Legislature in 2022 because this moment demands a new generation of leaders who are fighting for their communities and are not backing down to the extremist Republican supermajority that is harming our state.

Before winning the open Tennessee House District 52 seat, Jones said his top three priorities as a legislator would be voting rights, public education and health care as a human right.

We are not in normal times and cannot rely on the same normal politics to lead us out of this tumultuous time, he added. Nashville has a history of young people, young activists moving our community forward and it is our time now to do so together.

Jones credits his two grandmothers for teaching him the importance of community involvement, environmentalism and spirituality. Hes the grandson of Black grandparents from Chicagos South Side and Filipino immigrants who migrated to California.

The Tennessee representative was born in Oakland, Calif., and grew up in the East Bay area. He was raised by a single mother who managed to care for him and his sister while putting herself through nursing school.

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Rep. Justin Jones: 5 Things About The HBCU Grad Reinstated To ... - BET

On this date, April 11, in history:

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In 1506, construction began on the new St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican under the guidance of Pope Julius II, who enlisted the talents of Michelangelo and Raphael. The original church had been built in the Fourth century. The new one was not finished until 1626.

In 1689, William III and Mary II were crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.

In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht under which France ceded Hudson Bay, Acadia and Newfoundland to Britain was signed.

In 1755, British doctor and surgeon James Parkinson was born. He identified the neurological ailment that became known as Parkinsons disease.

In 1768, fire destroyed one-third of Montreal. It was one of several major fires in the community in the 1700s, a time when most of Montreal was built out of wood and there was no fire pump. The only way to fight fire was with pails of water.

In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of France and was banished to the island of Elba.

In 1890, John Merrick, afflicted by a disfiguring disease that led to his being known as the Elephant Man, died in London at the age of 28.

In 1899, the treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.

In 1904, Sydney, N.S., was incorporated as a city.

In 1917, Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster Danny Gallivan was born in Sydney, N.S. He broadcast more than 1,900 Montreal Canadiens games between 1952-84 a period in which the Habs won 16 Stanley Cups. Gallivan made such phrases as cannonading drive, Savardian spin-a-rama, rapier-like glove save and headmanning the puck part of Canadas vocabulary. He died on Feb. 24, 1993.

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In 1919, the International Labour Organization was established. It became a UN agency in 1946.

In 1940, women were allowed into the Quebec legislative assembly chamber for the first time.

In 1945, Allied troops liberated the Buchenwald death camp, 200 kilometres southwest of Berlin.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke baseballs colour barrier when he made his major league debut, playing in an exhibition game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees.

In 1951, British police recovered the Stone of Scone which had been stolen the previous Christmas Day from Londons Westminster Abbey. It was taken by students demanding an autonomous parliament for Scotland. The 220-kilogram stone was part of the coronation ceremonies for British monarchs since being taken to London from Scotland in 1296. It was finally returned to Scotland 700 years later, in 1996.

In 1951, U.S. president Harry Truman announced he had fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur as commander of UN forces in Korea. MacArthur had challenged Trumans war strategy.

In 1961, accused Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann went on trial in an Israeli court. He was convicted and executed.

In 1963, Pope John XXIIIs encyclical On Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity & Liberty was published.

In 1970, Apollo 13 blasted off on a mission to the moon. But an on-board explosion on April 13 crippled the spacecraft, forcing it to return to Earth four days later.

In 1971, Toronto doctors performed the first successful operation in Canada to separate conjoined twins.

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In 1973, Martin Bormann, who was Adolf Hitlers personal secretary during most of the Second World War, was officially declared dead. His skeleton had been discovered four months earlier by Berlin construction workers.

In 1979, Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda.

In 1984, the first baby to emanate from a frozen embryo was born in Melbourne, Australia.

In 1984, Soviet Communist Party leader Konstantin Chernenko became the countrys president. He died less than two years later and was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 1987, Primo Levi, a Jewish-Italian chemist, Holocaust survivor and author of memoirs, short stories, poems and novels, died after falling from the interior landing of his third-storey apartment in Turin, Italy, to the ground floor, leading to speculation he killed himself. His book, If This Is a Man (published in North America as Survival in Auschwitz) has been described as one of the most important works of the 20th century. He spent nearly a year in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz between February 1944 and January 1945.

In 1990, Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard died at age 86.

In 1991, a permanent ceasefire in the Persian Gulf War took effect.

In 2002, the UN established a permanent International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

In 2003, the northern Iraqi city of Mosul fell into U.S. and Kurdish hands with the surrender of an entire corps of the Iraqi army. The city quickly descended into lawlessness, with looting, arson and shootings. U.S. special forces were sent in to restore order.

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In 2005, a $7 billion class-action suit was launched on behalf of 100,000 farmers in four provinces, accusing the Canadian government of negligently allowing mad-cow disease to devastate the cattle industry.

In 2006, Iran announced it had successfully enriched uranium for the first time.

In 2007, Canadian soldiers Allan Stewart and Patrick James Pentland were killed in two Taliban attacks in Afghanistan.

In 2008, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled in favour of restoring a Federal Court order that the RCMP must serve all of New Brunswick in both English and French and respect unique language protections in Canadas only officially bilingual province.

In 2010, Canadian soldier Pte. Tyler William Todd was killed and another injured by a powerful roadside bomb while on foot patrol in Belanday, eight kilometres southwest of Kandahar city. His death raised to 142 the number of Canadian soldiers killed since the Afghan mission began in 2002.

Calgary Herald April 12, 2010; page A1.

In 2011, Ontario Justice Donald Taliano declared the federal medical marijuana program to be invalid, along with laws prohibiting possession and production of cannabis, since they can be used to criminally charge medical users unable to get the drugs through legal means. (The ruling was stayed in June after the Crown appealed.)

In 2011, France became the first country to ban Islamic face veils anywhere in public. (A similar ban took effect in Belgium in July.)

In 2011, an explosion tore through a key subway station in the Belarusian capital of Minsk during evening rush hour, killing 13 people and wounding over 200.

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In 2011, Alassane Ouattara, Ivory Coasts elected president, used his troops and French tanks and air power to oust strongman Laurent Gbagbo, pulling him from his burning residence and ending their four-month standoff.

In 2012, George Zimmerman, 28, the Florida neighbourhood watch volunteer who shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after mounting protests over racial profiling and controversial self-defence laws in Florida and other states galvanized the U.S. (In July 2013, a jury found Zimmerman not guilty.)

In 2013, comedian Jonathan Winters, whose breakneck improvisations inspired Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and many others, died at age 87. The Jonathan Winters Show aired in the 1950s and he returned to TV in 1981 as the son of Williams goofball alien in the final season of Mork and Mindy.

In 2018, an Algerian military plane carrying soldiers and their families crashed soon after takeoff into a field 30 kilometres south of Algiers, killing 257 people in the worst aviation disaster in the countrys history.

In 2018, Philadelphia 76ers rookie point guard Markelle Fultz became the youngest player in NBA history (19 years, 317 days) with a triple-double.

In 2019, police in London arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy on a court warrant dating back to 2012. Ecuadors president said his government had withdrawn asylum status, citing what he called repeated violations of international conventions and daily-life protocols. Assange hadnt left the embassy since August 2012, for fear he would be arrested and extradited to the U.S. for publishing thousands of classified military and diplomatic cables through his WikiLeaks website.

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In 2020, Edmonton Oilers forward Colby Cave died. The 25-year-old suffered a brain bleed earlier in the week, and was placed in a medically-induced coma at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.

In 2020, Opposition parties agreed to support the Liberal governments massive $73 billion wage subsidy program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The House of Commons held an emergency sitting in order to pass the legislation, which was assured after Conservatives dropped their attempt to tie the bill to the longer-term question of how Parliament should function in the midst of a national health crisis.

In 2021, Nomadland won four prizes, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards. The films director, Chloe Zhao, became only the second woman to win the best director trophy. Star Frances McDormand was named best actress.

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Jackie Robinson breaks baseball barrier: Today in history - Calgary Herald

Two days after Adidas objected to a trademark application by the advocacy group Black Lives Matter for a logo featuring three parallel stripes, the German sportswear company said that it would withdraw its opposition.

Adidas challenged the trademark application in a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Monday. On Wednesday, the company said in an emailed statement that it would withdraw its opposition as soon as possible.

In the filing on Monday, Adidas said that it opposed the Black Lives Matter application because it showed a trademark that incorporates three stripes in a manner that is confusingly similar to the companys familiar three-stripe logo in appearance and overall commercial impression.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation filed the trademark application for a yellow three-stripe logo design in November 2020. The group is one of several organizations associated with the wider Black Lives Matter movement, which emerged in 2013 after George Zimmerman was acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager.

The foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In its statement, Adidas did not say why it was reversing its opposition to the trademark application.

In September 2022, the window opened for individuals and groups to file their opposition to the foundations trademark application. Adidas repeatedly sought to extend the window before submitting its notice of opposition on Monday, according to the filing.

Adidas said that it had been using a three-stripe mark on footwear since at least 1952 and that the design had been used in its partnerships with professional athletes, including Lionel Messi, James Harden and Patrick Mahomes. The company said the three-stripe logo had also been used in its collaborations with and sponsorships of celebrities, including Beyonc, Selena Gomez and Bad Bunny.

In the filing, the company said that the public understood that the three-stripe mark distinguishes and identifies Adidass merchandise.

This short-lived trademark battle comes after a failed attempt by Adidas to challenge the fashion designer Thom Browne, who the company said used stripes in his designs in a way that was too similar to the Adidas stripes. In January, a federal jury in Manhattan ruled against Adidas.

In 2020, when global Black Lives Matter protests took place after George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, Adidas made several commitments to its Black employees. The company said at the time that 30 percent of new hires would be Black or Latino, and it pledged to invest in programs that benefited the Black community. Some employees said then that Adidass promises lacked an explicit acknowledgment of how the company had treated Black employees.

A year earlier, a New York Times investigation found that the relatively few Black employees at the companys North American headquarters in Portland, Ore., often felt marginalized and sometimes discriminated against. The investigation found that in 2018 only 4.5 percent of the 1,700 employees at the companys Portland campus identified as Black and that only about 1 percent of the more than 300 worldwide vice presidents were Black.

More recently, Adidas has been dealing with the aftermath of its messy split from Kanye West in October, after he made a series of antisemitic remarks and embraced white supremacist tropes. Adidas was criticized for not being quick enough to cut ties with Mr. West, who is now known as Ye.

The company said in a statement that Yes recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the companys values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.

In March, Bjorn Gulden, who took over as chief executive of Adidas in January, declared that 2023 would be a transition year for the company. Adidas has been losing its market share to rivals, such as Nike, and in February it issued its fourth profit warning in six months, saying it expected big losses this year.

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Adidas Drops Trademark Dispute With Black Lives Matter - The New York Times

The first time Christopher McBride picked up a saxophone was when he was 5, though it was little more than a family lark.

McBrides father had come back from a pawnshop with a tenor saxophone, a rather hefty instrument for a small child, and thought it would be funny to have him pose with it for a photo. Little did he know his son would go on to become a professional musician, and the sax skills of the Homewood-Flossmoor High School graduate would help the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra score a Grammy Award this year for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

I was in shock, McBride said of the win. It was a pretty incredible night.

McBride got a free ticket to the show and decided to take his mom, who has been part of his musical journey since the beginning. She was the one who enrolled him at just 4 years old in Suzuki classes. In return, she got an earful at the Grammys.

They said our name, the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra, and I just kind of froze, McBride said. I was not expecting to win. I was definitely taken aback. I was screaming obscenities at my mom my poor mom. I couldnt believe it.

Before McBride even spoke words, he was singing music. By 7, he started singing in his church choir on the South Side of Chicago, where he spent his early years. He was living in Homewood and attending Flossmoor School District 161 when he had to picked instrument for the school band at age 10. The sax was not his first choice.

I wanted to play drums but they gave me a practice pad, McBride said. I was like, I dont want a practice pad. Then I saw the saxophone and I said, I want to play that!

He made the top jazz band at H-F as a freshman. He went to both Ireland and London that year, and in Piccadilly Circus he saw some musicians who were playing with Madonnas band. At 14, he was surprised to learn that professional opportunities existed in the world of music.

Thats when I got serious in high school, McBride said.

He started playing at a coffee shop with bandmates from school. He rehearsed almost every after school let out.

Bill Jastrow, the H-F director of bands at the time, recalled McBrides passion for jazz. While it can be hard to predict how ones skills will develop beyond high school or how they will handle hurdles on the road to professional music, Jastrow said McBride has the characteristics of an award winner.

I am not surprised that Chris has reached the artistic levels he has and that he has been awarded a Grammy for his music, Jastrow said. Chris is a magnificent example of how the combination of passion with unrelenting hard work and determination will maximize and enhance anyones talents regardless of their field of interest.

After high school, McBride played in jam sessions. He continued to study music. He found mentors and performed at the now-defunct Velvet Lounge, which he called integral to his development.

I dont know where Id be without it, he said. Just being able to get up there and play, make mistakes and correct mistakes and develop a band sound it was so monumental to who I am.

Christopher McBride, who grew up in Homewood, said he has been getting more attention since winning a Grammy Award this year and releasing his album Ramon. (Alexa Dumont)

While McBride holds a bachelors degree in music education from Northern Illinois University and a masters degree from Queens College in New York, he likes to say he got his education from the Velvet Lounge.

When youre getting cursed out by some grown men when youre 18-19, you learn how to play music real fast, McBride said with a laugh.

He has performed professionally since 2007, though he calls himself forever a student, and tries to find the sweet spot between success and continuing to learn. So he took interest when a mentor offered him an opportunity to study in New York.

Growing up in Homewood, McBride had pictures of rappers all over his wall. And he particularly loved New Yorks culture and history of jazz and hip hop, and how that coincided with Chicagos history. But New York was a place he had up until that point seen as so far away in my head not an option.

He made the move in 2013, taking a year to join jam sessions and practices before starting music school there in 2014. By the time he graduated in 2017, he was getting work all over the city and stayed in Harlem rather than moving back to Chicago.

Since the Grammy win, McBride has been on the road performing in addition to teaching. In mid-February, he also released his second independent album, Ramon, a follow-up to his 2012 debut, Quatuor de Force.

Its just been a really incredible response with the record, McBride said. Im just riding the wave.

The album takes McBrides middle name, which has been in the family for generations and pays tribute to the Honduran side of his heritage. And while McBride takes the most pride in the hustle it took to get an album recorded and released as an independent artist, the musical highlight of Ramon for him is Your Eyes Cant Lie, featuring vocalist J. Hoard. McBride said it offers a short but strong mission statement of his sound.

Everything really came together well, McBride said.

Ramon also includes a three-part movement called Stand Your Ground, inspired by the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. A jury ultimately acquitted George Zimmerman of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the case.

It was really art imitating life, McBride said. After the verdict was read, I heard a melody for the first movement in my head. I just wrote it down.

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Inspired by the composition style of saxophonist Ernest Dawkins, McBride explored the conflict musically, with Part 1 tackling the Suspicion, Part 2 the Confrontation and finally a solemn In Memoriam: The Ballad of Trayvon Martin.

I wanted the emotions to be grief in the third movement a grief of somebody who was taken from us too quickly, unnecessarily, McBride said.

McBrides favorite track to record was the Bronx Unchained. It goes from what he describes as a menacing hip-hop beat to jazz. It was inspired by a week McBride spent living in the borough, which gave him plenty of stories both beautiful and not appropriate for the Southtown.

Living in the South Bronx for a week, I was like, this place needs a song, McBride said. Its just one of those places. This will always be imprinted in my mind.

McBride is not done showcasing what he can do with music. He is hoping to record his third album by the beginning of 2024. He also wants to work with more big bands, as well as continue his Singer Meets Saxophonist project in New York. After all, collaboration continues to foster his lifelong quest to learn.

I always feel like Ive made my most growth musically when Im being pushed and challenged, McBride said.

Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.

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