Over the past several weeks, we have all been focused on the tragic and unjust killings of several Black Americans, including the horrifying video of George Floyd being killed while in police custody. I can’t begin to imagine the profound pain, despair and frustration felt in the Black community over these and other, similar events.
Juneteenth serves as a reminder that while slavery was formally abolished 155 years ago, racism - blatant and insidious - has persisted.
As a lawyer for nearly 30 years, I believe very strongly in the principles of equality, fairness and justice. I have dedicated myself to a profession intended to uphold these important principles. At COUNTRY, we stand against racism, prejudice and injustice– in all of their forms.
Our hearts and minds are open. We are committed to understanding the causes of continued racial inequality in America and finding solutions to it. We want to learn from each other, broaden our perspectives, and commit ourselves to doing better.
As a company, we must do more to combat these issues in our communities. COUNTRY Financial has always been rooted in community, and – now more than ever – our Black community needs our unwavering support.
Because we know actions speak louder than words, we’ll continue to develop a more diverse and inclusive workforce and workplace. We will evolve our recruiting practices and employee development opportunities to foster more diverse representation throughout our organization.
Our multicultural resource group and diversity and inclusion leadership team, along with community partners, are coordinating honest and open conversations about these issues with our employees and representatives. We’re also creating internal task forces to transform our ideas into actions.
This is just the start to becoming better advocates for equality and justice. We encourage you to hold us accountable through an open dialogue, as we continue to find ways to drive meaningful and lasting change in our company and the communities we serve.
Sincerely,
Jim Jacobs, CEO
COUNTRY Financial