Now is the time to catch up and finally read the words of others in this financial services space as we consider the impact of our decisionsm workstreams and actions on black lives, whether one is state insurance regulator, industry executive or influencer, actuary, data miner, NAIC consumer advocate or member of the media.
Reflection and redirection will help incorporate more justice into ongoing work. In this vein, we are sharing the words of George Nichols III, who heads the American College of Financial Services.
Nichols, who has served to unite from back in the days when he served as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners 20 years ago, when I first met him, has recently written of his own frustrations and expectations in the wake of George Floyd‘s very public murder by police, and asks we amplify voices of black leaders and communities.
Chronic brutality by police brings the the extremity and deadliness of injustice into sharp relief, but the breadth and persistence of racial injustice underpins the same system, including the financial services sector. Persistent and ongoing financial stress, one of the afflictions of racism Nichols cites, is one of the factors insurance practices have the power to address.
“You hear the stories of black men and women navigating poverty inside America’s densest projects; the malnutrition, the financial stress, the entrenched inequalities in our system that eventually boil over. They become fearful of the cops, of creditors, even of each other while fighting on the streets for survival,” Nichols writes.
He asks us not to move on but continue with work, not mere words, (although this iswriters have at our disposal here, at least while the page; we can all do more):
“And, more than anything, we have the opportunity and responsibility to become a platform for progress, where the communities we serve drive the ideas and actions we take. For far too long, pontificators have read some words on race, offered their thoughts and prayers, and America moved on. That cannot continue…”
What will continue is the work in the allotted or chosen space each of us have.
“…we have the opportunity and responsibility to become a platform for progress, where the communities we serve drive the ideas and actions we take. For far too long, pontificators have read some words on race, offered their thoughts and prayers, and America moved on. That cannot continue.”
Justice for so many, and many others to come, but the good thing about the future is it is a place where we can all pitch in.
Please read the full blog post here: https://www.theamericancollege.edu/our-people/office-of-the-president/blog/listen-racial-injustice-cannot-continue
WASHINGTON INSURANCE RIDER 