Netflix’s vice president of inclusion strategy Vernā Myers shared four steps that she believes can help companies behave in an “anti-racist” manner.
Delivering the keynote address Tuesday for the 2020 Promax Virtual Experience, Myers said that decision-makers must control what they can, with so many preexisting factors out of their hands.“Spend the money” and hire a professional on equity and diversity. Do your own personal work to understand racism. Hear from new voices and “listen to believe.” Interrupt bias when you see it; “This is not the time to be a bystander.
“At this point, neutrality is no longer an option,” Myers said at the entertainment and marketing industry conference. “Neutrality at this point is complicity with the status quo, and the status quo is racism. We may not have created it, we don’t believe in its tenets, but at this point, racism doesn’t need our beliefs to survive. It’s automatic, it’s built-in. So in order for us to get rid of it, we have to be intentional. We have to act. We have to be anti-racist.
The brutal Killing of George Floyd by police and the Black Lives Movement have not only shined a light on police brutality and racial injustice in the United States, but also racial inequities and anti-blackness operating in all aspects of our society. The entertainment and marketing industries are no exception.