Atone

'The moral tenor of our times has changed. Where do you want to be in it?' says Sarah Federman, an expert on the role of businesses in mass atrocities.

Do you want to know your history, and do you want to deal with it? They just wanted to be in insurance, or whatever it is that drew them to that company. Because of these histories, and understanding your institution’s role is part of that DEI work, so I would put it under that umbrella. So the way I’m presenting it is: When you’re doing your diversity, equity and inclusion work, part of that work is understanding the legacies. And these are just a different kind of problem than businesses are used to thinking about. They are moving it along, and it is going to push corporations to have to do something. Federman: In terms of the past, I don’t know if that’s the percentage, but maybe that’s the percentage. Presidents and leaders are asked to atone for these pasts — to make apologies. In the U.S., most companies are going to be protected for the time being, though that might change. My area of research is in who’s doing it well, and it’s a changing conversation. “That reflection has made it clear that our historical involvement in the slave trade comes with a responsibility to help repair the damage slavery has caused across society,” the spokesman said. They give credit to the anti-racist activism and allies following George Floyd’s murder, although some of it, I think, was even employees in-house.