Join a Lightning Bolt by Liz Dozier, Founder and CEO of Chicago Beyond, with Q&A to follow. Lightning Bolts are powerful, short format, multimedia, inspiring stories from influential trailblazers centered around a reflection or provocation. These speakers will challenge us to take action and do what’s needed to be the leader, create the companies, and invest in the communities we want to see in the world.
Structural racism set the stage long ago for the devastation we are seeing now. For example, in Chicago, Blacks are 30% of the population but 70% of COVID-19 deaths, with the highest mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group. The virus is showing us where the fault lines lie. Beyond recovery, how do we tear down and rebuild? How do we collectively pivot and avoid “returning to normal?” More importantly, how much do we really care to? How much have we learned from past decisions, like the G.I. Bill and Hurricane Katrina response? How will we think and do differently so that all communities have the opportunity to thrive? If we don’t ‘call out’ inequities in the face of COVID-19 and ‘call in’ something radically different, then with the best of intentions, we will reproduce the same inequities. We need to excavate. Let’s have a real discussion about what a whole future looks like, and the associated culture and practices to make it real.