Book: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption Author: Bryan Stevenson Times Read: 2
I reread this book for a book group at my local library recently. Stevenson is an amazing writer who helped to humanize the complex topic of the death penalty. Americans have been programmed to assume that if someone is on death row, they are automatically the worst person ever and deserve to die. In many cases, death row inmates deserve to die, but, as this book points out, it isn’t that simple.
I’m against the death penalty in most cases not because it is cruel and unusual, but because it is unfairly administered. Most people executed are people of color and/or poor people who can’t afford decent counsel. Also, it costs less to keep someone in jail for life than on death row, and a lot of Americans are starting to think this same way.
Maybe when rich white men start to get executed, I might change my mind.
Luckily, for now, HBO is putting out a new documentary about the Equal Justice Initiative and a feature film about the book that is being developed now starring Michael B. Jordan.
Another LGBT Pride Month is about to come to a close, and, of course, we have been bombarded with rainbow flags on social media profiles and “pride” branded merchandise. It is a great thing that society has progressed that Corporate America is open to celebrating the LGBT experience.
However, I have many thoughts and concerns about this.
I think there is a lot of hypocrisy with some of the individuals and organizations sending out pride well-wishes. The most obvious one is Trump sending out a pro-LGBT tweet earlier this month when his administration is actively discriminating against transgender soldiers in the military and forbidding U.S. embassies around the world from flying the rainbow flag. Or the National Security Agency (NSA) putting out a pro-pride tweet when this agency, along with the FBI and CIA, has a long, prolific history of surveillance or blackmail in the LGBT community.
But even companies assumed to be gay-friendly are problematic like YouTube, which got backlash earlier this month for not banning racist and homophobic attacks on a gay YouTuber. And there are dozens of other companies that are also questionable when it comes to their true allegiances.
I think Corporate America has been gravitating to “pride marketing” for several reasons:
It’s trendy, and it helps companies get noticed
LGBT people are everywhere in every race, ethnicity, religion, income, geographic location, and most importantly, they have spending dollars
Homophobia is seen by Corporate America as an easier form of discrimination to fight against, unlike other types of bias that come with heavy, historical baggage like racism, anti-Semitism, or Islamaphobia, xenophobia, etc.
And quickly frankly, it is easy to do; anyone can put a rainbow flag on their logo temporarily and give the false, superficial impression to the world that they are pro-LGBT without having to be accountable for why they are doing it. Also, some of these companies will even conflate other marginalized groups and their issues under the rainbow flag.
No one can’t ever accuse us of being anti-immigrant, sexist, or racist because we have pride written in bright, rainbow colors on our website! – Corporate America
We in the black community has been complaining about this hijacking of Black History Month for similar reasons. Many companies purchase large advertisements in major black publications like Essence, Ebony, or Black Enterprise for the February editions to “celebrate” the achievements and advancements made by African-Americans. And, yet, most of these companies, especially the tech companies, have very few, if any, black employees. And if they do have a black employee, it’s usually their token black “chief of diversity” or someone else who doesn’t have a decision-making, leadership role within the organization. The company trots out this type of person only to sell the idea of workforce diversity, not the actual work behind making real workforce diversity happen. I have written previously about why these chiefs of diversity/inclusion/community relation/etc. positions are a joke.
I hope the LGBT community goes back to all of these companies on July 1 when the rainbow flag and pride logos and merchandise go away and hold them accountable. First, they should ask these companies what are they really doing about LGBT equality. While our society has made strides with making marriage equality a reality, LGBT people can still be fired from a job or denied housing because there are still no federal laws protecting them. Gay and bisexual men still can’t be blood donors. Second, what are these companies doing to safeguard intersectional LGBT folks? How are they protecting LGBT people who may also be immigrants or Muslims? What are they doing to protect LGBT people of color who might have a negative interaction with the police or criminal justice system? What about LGBT veterans or LGBT people with disabilities? If these companies are not doing anything about these issues, then they are not authentic, accountable allies.
Waving a rainbow flag is just not enough anymore!
What’s really sad about this is that most of these companies don’t even know what the Stonewall Uprising was, which is commemorating its 50th anniversary this year. The Stonewall demonstrators in 1969 just wanted the right to exist. I think that is a simple request.
As many of you already know, I am a big fan of Pose, the wonderfully groundbreaking FX show about the 1980s gay ballroom scene in New York. Dominique Jackson, the actress who plays Elektra, a Dominique Deveraux-inspired “ball mother” who makes her sex change official in the show’s first season.
I found this video about her on YouTube. I like her, even more, knowing that she is from Trinidad!
I know, I know; why I am talking about the Christmas marketing season in June. Most major companies have already started planning their strategies in January! Small business should also start thinking about how they will attract coveted holiday sales. Creating a strategy now gives you time to think about what you want to do instead of rushing to put a strategy together in November. My staff at Global Wire Associate created this quick checklist of a few important things that you need to know and do now if you want to pursue online holiday selling:
Review Your Previous Holiday Marketing Plans (if you had any): Take a look at what worked and what didn’t last year, and strategize what you will do this year. Did you run out of stock early? Did your costs overrun? Did your website crash? How did your shipping and handling work out last year? Did your social media strategy help you make sales?
Advertising, Marketing, and PR:How do you plan to advertise your company? Social media? Email newsletters? Are there reporters or bloggers you could contact to get holiday coverage. Are there keywords you can use in your website for better SEO?
Plan Out Your Holiday Content Strategy:Now is a good time to put together a special editorial calendar for holiday-themed content. This includes blog posts, videos, social media content to showcase any sales, discounts, and promotions.
Create a Clear Payment & Return Policy:Make it clear on your website, preferably in the Terms of Services page, what your payment and return policies are so that customers understand what to expect.
Create A Sign-Up Form On Your Website:During the holidays, your website will have a higher than the average number of visitors. No, email marketing is not dead. In fact, customers are more likely to see your emails than your posts on Facebook! Strategically place a sign-up form on your website to capture email opt-ins.
Make It Easier For Your Customers:Holiday shoppers are busy and will not spend a lot of time interacting with your content if they don’t find what they want. Creating recommended or wish lists (along with special discounts) makes it easier for users to identify your products and services. Even if they don’t actually purchase anything during the holiday season, they will remember your lists and might come back to make a purchase after the holidays.
Three-Click Rule:Again, holiday shoppers are busy, so don’t have users go on a scavenger hunt on your website. Reorganize your website so that users can find anything in three clicks or less.
Shipping and Handling:It is a good idea to have an online fulfillment plan, especially if you are working with third-party vendors, to make sure deliveries are made on time.
Costs: You are doing online selling because you want to make money, not lose it? With that said, how much will all the above objectives cost your business? Do you need to hire temporary bloggers or a web designer to support your online strategy? Calculate your budget before embarking on such a strategy.
Plan B:When all else fails, what do you do? You need to think about the worst-case scenarios like if your website’s server goes down, run out of stock early or social media gets hacked. It is better to start thinking about these now then when it actually happens.
These are just a few steps. If you need more help with your online holiday strategy, don’t hesitate to contact us!