I want to take this opportunity to speak to all of you about the tragedy in Minnesota, specifically the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers.

Right now, there is a pain deeply etched in the soul of our nation and in the hearts of millions. To stand together, we must stand up for one another, and recognize the fear, hurt, and outrage rightly provoked by the senseless killing of George Floyd and a much longer history of racism.

I recognize the ongoing, corrosive role that racism plays in our society and want to do something about it. It falls on all of us, regardless of our race and status, to work together to create a 'new normal' in which the legacy of bigotry and unequal treatment no longer infects our institutions or our hearts.

Let’s stop asking “why?” and start asking “what?” What are we going to do? In this moment, we each must decide what we can do – individually and collectively – to drive change… meaningful, deliberate change.

There comes a time when we are compelled to stop diagnosing what is wrong and start advocating for what is right. And based on our longstanding values at T&M, here is what that looks like:

1. We are committed to inclusion – that means creating the conditions in our firm where every single person who believes in our values is welcome.
2. We unequivocally condemn intolerance – that means racism, bigotry, discrimination, and any other form of named or unnamed hatred.
3. We stand up against injustice – that means taking the risk of expressing an unpopular or polarizing point of view, because complacency and complicity sit in the shadow of silence, as did the three officers who stood by and did nothing for almost nine minutes as the last breaths of George Floyd left his body.

My personal commitment is to ensure that every single person who represents T&M, and by extension, the entire T&M family, consistently remains aware of our responsibility to bring awareness to injustice. Because awareness leads to dialogue… dialogue leads to understanding… and understanding leads to change.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Floyd family and all those impacted by this tragedy.

And I am personally proud that T&M is helping protect the media as they shine a light in the darkness of bigotry and racism in our society.

Remarks originally shared during a company-wide briefing on Thursday, June 4, 2020.