In Search of Humanity: Why We Fight, How to Stop, and the Role Business Must Play

Contents

Introduction

Part 1:  

To the Victor Go the Spoils

Chapter 1.  Humanity at a Crossroads

Chapter 2.  American Exceptionalism Under the Microscope

Chapter 3.  The Modern Myth of Meritocracy

Part 2:  

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Chapter 4.  From Homo Sapiens to Miserator Hominibus

Chapter 5.  The Evolving Role of American Business

Chapter 6.  Building a Culture That Values DEI&B

Chapter 7.  Finding the Way Forward

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Human Like Me

Copyright © 2022 Jarik Conrad

All rights reserved.

In Search of Humanity

Why We Fight, How to Stop, and the Role Business Must Play

ISBN  978-1-5445-3012-3  Hardcover

           978-1-5445-3013-0  Paperback

           978-1-5445-3014-7  Ebook

Alexandria and Jarik, I wrote this book for you.

I want you to come of age in a world where human diversity is valued and recognized as a source of strength rather than a subject of controversy and conflict.

Introduction

In Search of an Identity

To the rest of the world, America must look like it has dissociative identity disorder, its split personalities continually struggling for primacy. At times, we are the moral conscience of the world, pushing other countries to prioritize human rights and embrace environmental responsibility. Sometimes, we are a rich and powerful bully that uses brute force to bend others to our will. At other times, we are a fragile democracy fighting to retain a position of strength, stability, and influence.

America has been cleaved in two, with little in the way of constructive solutions. We are in the throes of a perennial civil war, pitting traditionalists against reformists. While this conflict has endured since the birth of the nation, with battles won and lost by each side, something feels different about the present period. The tense political and social divides are pitting coworkers, neighbors, and family members against each other, sometimes resulting in violence. Humans can be incredibly kind, but our evolutionally wiring also enables us to be astonishingly cruel.

There are two clear options for America to bring a firm conclusion to its civil war—find a common enemy to gang up on, or unite around a common goal. I vote for the second option. Let’s harness the energy and emotion on both sides and redirect it to galvanize people around a clear and compelling rallying cry, one that is uniquely American.

What could this clarion call be? America’s most sacred symbols may hold the key. The Declaration of Independence is inscribed, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The word liberty, or the concept of freedom, has a prominent place in the text. This is ironic because the text was written during the lifetime enslavement of Black people. How can all people be created equal if the children of Black people are born into bondage? The Pledge of Allegiance, recited in classrooms all over America, ends with one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The national anthem ends with the land of the free and the home of the brave. Then, there is the Statue of Liberty, originally proposed as a symbol of freedom to commemorate the abolishment of slavery.

These symbols of yesteryear advanced the idea of unity and freedom as the distinguishing characteristics of America. Yet these characteristics are at the heart of America’s civil war today. Traditionalists interpret freedom as autonomy and independence—no government intrusion in their personal lives. Reformists interpret freedom as fairness and egalitarianism—equal rights and opportunities. Obviously, there are stark differences of opinion.

The reformists’ interpretation of freedom hardly exists in America. Individuals who are born poor are significantly more likely to remain poor, and individuals born wealthy are significantly more likely to remain wealthy. As long as Black people (and poor White people) continue to be treated as inferior human beings, taxpayer-funded government social programs will continue to be needed. None of us will be free until all of us are free.

It’s time for a new Reconstruction, one that overcomes the shortfalls and failures of past Reconstruction eras. To have any legitimate hope of achieving the freedom exalted in our most sacred symbols and ceremonies, we must finally make good on the promise the nation made to its Black citizens during the first Reconstruction that began in 1865 and ended in 1877—comparable economic footing and political influence as enjoyed by White people.

As of this writing, America itself hangs in the balance—the summer of 2020 saw thousands of individuals from all backgrounds protest against structural and systemic racism in the aftermath of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many other unarmed Black people. In 2021, a violent insurrection at the US Capitol, carried out by a hodgepodge of individuals and groups, including White supremacists, was determined to stop the certification of a lawful presidential election. On top of that, the increasingly bold nature of racist and hateful comments and behaviors is giving Black people a glimpse of what life must have been like for their grandparents.

When Americans treat other Americans badly, we must resist the urge to say, This is not who we are, because truthfully, it is absolutely who we are. Instead, let’s work together across ideological and demographic lines to build a new America, one that acknowledges and rectifies past transgressions and commits everlastingly to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. True patriotism is the extent to which we treat each other with abiding dignity and respect. We can find common ground, but it requires a willingness to relinquish the perspective that one group of people has a superior claim to all that is good in life.

All human beings are, in fact, created equal. Once born, however, inequality surfaces. I learned this as a child in East St. Louis, Illinois, growing up in public housing. Looking today at photos of the home to which we later moved and its garage patched together with found pieces of wood, the term war zone springs to mind. It felt like that too, with a crime rate that frequently made East St. Louis one of the most dangerous cities in America. In 1991, the year after I graduated from high school, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called my hometown the most distressed small city in the country. Three-quarters of the population lived on welfare.

In my high school, the science lab had no equipment, the classrooms had limited supplies, and the restrooms had few working toilets. None of my schools had football fields, swimming pools, baseball diamonds, or soccer fields. I find it amusing that people who complain about throwing money at problems rarely suffer from a lack of resources themselves. Despite the city’s challenges, I met some of the smartest and kindest people in East St. Louis, a place that has produced people with remarkable talents, including jazz giant Miles Davis, Olympic superstar Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and former US ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations Donald McHenry.

Although conditions were certainly demoralizing, I never felt inferior as a young child, unlike some of my peers. I hated watching television reports suggesting that the outside world thought of me as such. In retrospect, I developed a belief that my family was somehow better off and more deserving of success, even though my mother was a single parent living on welfare. Even though we did not go on vacations, even though I never owned a pair of Air Jordans, and even though we never went to restaurants and almost always ate cheap, processed foods high in sugar, salt, and fat, I somehow felt we were different. I refused to give up on my future. I simply would not accept settling for less because I was Black and born in the ghetto. I know I am outlier who represents what is possible but not probable. Many others I knew in East St. Louis never escaped the invisible chains that weighed down their hopes. My heart is with them and the countless others born into neglected communities across America.

This story must change. Once the country allows Black people to cash in on the promissory note that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. indicated had been stamped insufficient funds, we can all stand as proud Americans, our flag a true symbol of encompassing liberty and justice. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging can become our differentiating source of strength as a nation. Otherwise, this ominous civil war will fester for generations to come.

In this book, expect to read a history of numbing social and economic inequality, of government promises made but not kept, and of ineffective plans put forth to level the field by politicians whose policies are paid for by powerful industry interests. Expect also to read why the American Dream is a fantasy designed to enrich a few people, and how this country came to be what it has become over history. Most importantly, expect to read how change can be achieved against such overwhelming odds. No longer must we trust solely in our governing bodies to drive change. American companies, many of them complicit in maintaining inequality as the status quo, must partner with our government to create a new America.

Part 1:

To the Victor Go the Spoils

Chapter 1.

Humanity at a Crossroads

The impulse that inspired early human beings to adapt and explore new habitats is the same basic instinct driving people and all other species in the animal kingdom today—the unrelenting desire to survive. Guiding us in this quest is our curiosity.

People are enamored with understanding the why? and why not? of things. Keenly observing our surroundings and making connections between cause and effect have been critical to our survival. Children grow and mature by understanding the relationship between an event or condition and the results that emanate from them, which promotes learning and increases the odds of survival.

The importance of curiosity as a survival mechanism is evident in brain scans. The brain releases dopamine as a reward and as a reinforcement when we engage in behaviors that increase our likelihood of survival.

Two types of human curiosity are visible in functional MRI brain scans—perceptual curiosity and epistemic curiosity.

Perceptual curiosity involves solving immediate needs, such as exploring the refrigerator to determine what to eat for lunch.¹ Epistemic curiosity, on the other hand, is concerned with bigger questions, such as, How far away are the stars in the sky? Both forms of curiosity are necessary, deeply satisfying, and beneficial for the whole of society.

Thanks to the unwavering curiosity we inherited from our ancestors, we live in a remarkable era of human development. Across the centuries, scientists have answered many of humanity’s most enduring and perplexing questions. Engineers have developed machines that make things and afford travel worldwide. Athletes have achieved feats never thought humanly possible. Companies are using digital technologies like advanced analytics to predict business outcomes and automated machines to make defect-free products at scale. Not only have astronauts walked on the moon, but Captain Kirk himself, ninety-year-old William Shatner, has flown to space on a ship built by billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos. Pharmaceutical giants, in partnership with biopharma firms, have made vaccines and therapies at warp speed in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, which as of this writing was in an uncertain retreat thanks to successful vaccinations of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

Much more is in store, all of it driven by human curiosity and our basic need to survive. Scientists are poised to cure insidious chronic illnesses, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Harmful emissions will decrease substantially as fully electric cars, planes, and even locomotives become the norm. Thanks to technology, work will become more collaborative, efficient, and