Top Lawyers Speak Out About Racism
"I know it's not fair. I know we are tired. But we cannot give up," Sharon Barner, vice president and general counsel at Cummins Inc., wrote in a statement.
June 25, 2020 at 03:19 PM
3 minute read
Sharon Barner, general counsel, Cummins. (Courtesy photo)
More in-house leaders are adding their voices to calls for systemic change and equality.
On Wednesday, Seth Krauss, chief legal officer for Endeavor, a global entertainment, sports, media and fashion company based in New York, released a statement on LinkedIn announcing that he was ready to speak out after taking some time to listen.
"Over the last four weeks rather than posting I have chosen to spend my time with my friends and colleagues, listening to and learning from them, reaching out to, and supporting them.
But engaging with friends and colleagues isn't enough. I must also speak up publicly. We all should be speaking up, publicly," he wrote.
"This isn't about race, it's about right and wrong," Krauss added.
A few days earlier, Sharon Barner, vice president and general counsel at Cummins Inc. in Indianapolis, issued a statement in the June 19 edition of The Indianapolis Recorder.
"I am Black. I am a mother. We see our sons and daughters in George Floyd, Dreasjon Reed, Breonna Taylor and so many others. On the other side of our sorrow, anger and despair, we dig deep to unleash our unrelenting commitment to fight injustice, tell our stories and build allies," she wrote in the statement, which Cummins posted on its website.
"I know it's not fair. I know we are tired. But we cannot give up. Our lives and our children's lives depend on us. In the spirit of our ancestors, we must be undaunted and undeterred in our efforts to undo systemic racism," Barner added.
Attempts to speak with Barner and Krauss were not immediately successful.
Andy Gilman, president and CEO of CommonCore Consulting Group in Washington, D.C., said he expects that "more and more" general counsel, law partners and executives making public statements and getting involved in pushes for change.
"This is a transcendent issue. If you don't say what you believe or feel or experience, you're probably missing from the discussion. This issue is bigger than your job," he said.
He added, "We're at one of those transcendent, pivotal moments where you can't play the same old games and people have to say what's in their heart, what they believe."
Read More:
Over 125 Firms Have Joined the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance
Chief Legal Officers, Chief Human Resource Officers Partner to Combat Workplace Racism
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