NEW YORK – AUGUST 18, 2017 – Almost 40 years ago, Justice Thurgood Marshall – the first person of color to sit on our nation’s highest court – spoke in Charlottesville, telling the graduating class of the University of Virginia: “Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.”
This past week, we have all watched the horrific events in Charlottesville and the spread of messages of hate and bigotry in too many communities across the country. Sadly, these events did not happen in a bubble but are endemic of a broader disease of anti-immigrant, racist, homophobic, and religious intolerance that is spreading and threatening to divide our country.
The current insanity threatens to spiral out of control and has to stop. Leadership is needed. Leaders from corporate America must step in to protect the communities we serve, as so many leaders in our nation’s Capital are failing to speak out forcefully and clearly against the spreading hate and bigotry.
As the CEO of Univision Communications Inc., the leading media company serving Hispanic America and the rising diverse American mainstream, I have and will continue to speak up against:
- The hateful and grossly inaccurate portrayal of immigrants as criminals, terrorists and “bad people,” which is intended to drive fear and division.
- The misguided and mean-spirited efforts to break apart hard-working immigrant families and attack their language and culture.
- The efforts to demonize our LGBT communities and drive our families, friends, and colleagues back into the closet.
- The attacks on our media, which are surely meant to weaken accountability and safeguards that are absolutely critical to protecting American freedoms.
- The abject failure to clearly and forcefully denounce the actions of white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and others who espouse racist and hateful views.
I am proud of the greatness of the multicultural America we live in and are making. And I am heartened to see so many CEOs speaking out and hope that they will continue to do so, not only this week but in the coming weeks and months, so that we can pass on to the next generation an America that embraces inclusion and equality for everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, language, gender or orientation.
