Industry speaks on racial injustice, pain evoked by police brutality

The killing of George Floyd, which sparked worldwide protests and criminal charges, including murder, against police, has elicited personal responses and calls to action by Wall Street executives, who have joined a now-global chorus of voices demanding justice and an end to police brutality in the country.

Money managers and banks have denounced police actions in the killing of Mr. Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, noting the distinct hurt felt by the black community, including their employees, who are outraged by the violent incident recorded on a bystander's cellphone.

Since late May, the CEOs of BlackRock Inc., State Street Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. were among those who voiced concerns about racial injustice and inequality in the country.

Black executives and officials in the investment industry also have shared personal experiences of racism and police brutality that have affected their lives, even as they deal with the fresh wounds of recent violence targeting their community.

Connecticut Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden said he related to the events preceding the fatal February shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, where Mr. Arbery was captured on video entering a construction site several days before a fatal encounter with two white men, a father and son, now charged with murdering him while he was jogging in Georgia.

Mr. Wooden said, just days before he saw the video reported in the news, he had done "the exact same thing," looking at a construction site while jogging through his neighborhood.

"If you're a black man, is curiosity a death sentence? My son is a runner and asked me is it safe for him to jog," said Mr. Wooden, who is currently the only African-American elected state treasurer in the U.S.

Billionaire Robert F. Smith, the founder of Austin, Texas-based Vista Equity Partners Management LLC, shared the experience of the death of his uncle, who was shot by a white gas station attendant decades ago, in a recent staff memo republished in The New York Times.

"I was quite confused by this as my uncle, who had just received his masters degree and was recently married, was quite excited about having landed a job with the state of Colorado inspecting various facilities across the state," Mr. Smith recounted.

"Apparently this gas station attendant couldn't imagine why an African American would have a state gas card and felt the appropriate action was to shoot and kill him. This was almost 50 years ago, and the pain still lingers," Mr. Smith wrote.

The industry's response to the deaths of black Americans after encounters with police, including Mr. Floyd, Mr. Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others, comes on the heels of a racially charged incident involving a former employee of Franklin Templeton, Amy Cooper.

Ms. Cooper, who was head of insurance investment solutions for Franklin Templeton, according to her now-deleted LinkedIn profile, was fired by the company within 24 hours of a video going viral on Memorial Day. In the video, she is shown threatening to call the police on Christian Cooper, a birdwatcher in New York's Central Park, who had asked her to follow park rules and leash her dog.

In the video, Ms. Cooper can be heard calling the police and saying, "There is an African-American man. I am in Central Park. He is recording me and threatening myself and my dog."

In a statement on May 26, Franklin Templeton said it does not "tolerate racism of any kind" at the company.

"I applaud Franklin Templeton for their swift and transparent response, and their clear — in their actions and words — zero tolerance for racism," Mr. Wooden said.

Senior staff for the Connecticut treasurer have "had conversations with senior people within Franklin Templeton" about the Amy Cooper incident, as well as the broader question of Franklin Templeton's own diversity and inclusion efforts, he added.

As of April 30, Franklin Templeton managed about $994 million on behalf of the $34 billion Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds, of which the treasurer is the sole trustee, according to information provided by a spokeswoman for Mr. Wooden's office. CRPTF also has an equity exposure to Franklin Templeton and its affiliates, which stands at roughly $13.5 million, the spokeswoman said in an email.

"I will be having a conversation with the CEO to take it even further ... in regards to my call to action," Mr. Wooden said in a June 4 phone interview, adding that he is scheduled to speak Tuesday with Franklin Templeton president and CEO Jennifer M. Johnson.

In an op-ed published in the Hartford Courant on May 30, Mr. Wooden asked Wall Street and other businesses across America to "get off the sidelines" in the fight against racial injustice. "Joining with advocates, you have the power and the resources to change the trajectory of this country," Mr. Wooden said.

In many of their messages to employees, money management leaders noted that black America is battling police violence, systemic inequalities, as well as the threat of COVID-19, which has had a disproportionate impact on the black community.

Mr. Floyd's last minutes transpired with the 46-year-old handcuffed on the ground, repeating "I can't breathe,' while a white police officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Two other officers also held Mr. Floyd down, while a fourth stood watch. All four officers have since been fired and charged. The officer who pressed his knee into Mr. Floyd's neck was charged with second-degree murder on June 3, in addition to previously filed charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The other three officers were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Mr. Floyd also had tested positive for COVID-19 in early April, according to an autopsy report published by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office.

Tina Byles Williams, the founder, CEO and CIO of Xponance Inc., a Philadelphia-based money manager with $9.5 billion in assets under management, said that while "black and brown people may feel this more viscerally," all employees are upset by the incident.

"This is a really distressing time and, dare I say, a scary time. I think (companies) need to give (employees) space to process what is going on and give avenues for constructive ways to engage," Ms. Williams said.

"It's also OK to be angry. It is upsetting," she continued, adding that employees shouldn't be forced to "put on a happy face."

Ms. Williams wrote in an op-ed published by Pensions & Investments that the black community is "tired of explaining racism to America," and we must each "personally undertake the responsibility to educate ourselves on racial (and gender) injustices and support groups that advance social justice."

May 31 and June 1 marked 99 years since the 1921 Tulsa, Okla., race massacre, which resulted in the deaths of at least 300 black people and the destruction of the thriving Greenwood District, also known as "Black Wall Street," by a white mob that was aided by police.

Shundrawn Thomas, the president of Northern Trust Asset Management, said in a June 1 LinkedIn post that the practice of being silent regarding discrimination must end, including in the workplace. He shared his personal experiences as an African-American man being racially profiled by police, including while on a movie date nearly 30 years ago, when officers pulled him over and one, carrying an unholstered firearm, ordered him back into his vehicle.

"It frankly would be easier for me to avoid this dialogue altogether, especially in the workplace," Mr. Thomas wrote. "However, far too often and for far too many, the response to discrimination is silence. It is often a deafening silence subverting the crucial dialogs that are required to bring us together as a community. Unfortunately, silence has many unintended consequences. It requires those who are most directly impacted by these events to suffer quietly. And, it requires those who are genuinely concerned to retreat remorsefully."

In Houston, managing partner Gilbert Garcia said he and seven other employees of Garcia Hamilton & Associates LP attended the June 2 march for George Floyd in the city's downtown area, where the firm is based.

The march drew a reported crowd of 60,000 people to Houston, Mr. Floyd's hometown.

"I think these are historic times and what's happening with all these demonstrations is precisely who we are as a firm," Mr. Garcia said.

"This is all about inequality. That is ground zero for these problems, whether it relates to (access to) health care, education or receiving justice. Who is going to better respond to the minority community than minority-owned businesses?" he said. Garcia Hamilton is a fixed-income manager with $15.5 billion in total AUM and about 35 employees.