Editorial: Speaking Out

When Trent Mell, the president and CEO of First Cobalt, contacted our newspaper last week and asked what our thoughts were on tackling the George Floyd protests as they relate to the mining industry, and said he was thinking about both what he could do as an individual and what the industry could do as a whole about the barriers put up by systemic discrimination, I told him that a good first step would be to write an opinion piece on the subject and we would publish it. He agreed and turned in a piece straight from his heart.

What is remarkable is that Mell was the only one.

What happened to Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, has ignited calls for racial justice. His death has resonated around the world and triggered protests in hundreds of cities.

None of us can be silent. As former U.S. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has said, “We can’t fail victims, like what Martin Luther King called ‘the appalling silence of good people.’… With our complacency, our silence, we are complicit in perpetuating these cycles of violence.”

It’s not too late. And it’s not hard to find inspiration. I dedicate this space to those who have spoken out.

• “We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.” (Pope Francis)

• “It’s natural to wish for life ‘to just get back to normal’ as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us. But we have to remember that for millions of Americas, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly ‘normal’ – whether it’s while dealing with the health care system, or interacting with the criminal justice system, or jogging down the street, or just watching birds in a park.” (Former U.S. President Barack Obama)

• “No one deserves to die the way George Floyd did. And the truth is, if you’re white in America, the chances are you won’t.” (Former U.S. President Bill Clinton)

• “We all must shine a spotlight on the immorality of racial discrimination … As a white male of the South, I know all too well the impact of segregation and injustice to African Americans. As a politician, I felt a responsibility to bring equity to my state and our country. We need a government as good as its people and we are better than this.” (Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter)

• “It remains a shocking failure that many African-Americans, especially young African-American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country … Doctrine and habits of racial superiority, which once nearly split our country, still threaten our union.” (Former U.S. President George W. Bush)

• “The unfinished work of racial justice and equality call us all to account. Things must change.” (Tim Cook, CEO of Apple)

• “The last few weeks have taught us that what we, as individuals and a community, choose to do at this time, will define the world in which we live.” (David Gibbs, CEO of Yum Brands)

• “There are in fact barriers that are faced by African Americans even though we don’t have laws that separate people on the basis of race anymore. We still have customs. We still have beliefs. We still have policies. We still have practices that lead to inequity.” (Kenneth Frazier, CEO of Merck)

• “We all watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States. It is a time for us as Canadians to recognize that we too have our challenges. There is systemic racism in Canada.” (Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau)