We grieve with our colleagues, friends and families, and believe that we have the power to create long-lasting social, educational and economic change.
Over the course of the past few weeks, the world has watched and reacted to unspeakable acts of hatred that have resulted in the deaths of three Black Americans. Sadly, these incidents are not isolated. The Black community at large has lost many lives as a result of acts fueled by bias and hate.
We are incredibly saddened and disturbed by these acts of violence and grieve with the families of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and the countless men and women who have lost their lives in a similar manner over the years. We also grieve alongside our colleagues at Morgan Stanley, our friends and our families, many of whom are deeply wounded and are experiencing a range of emotions, including anger, fear and, most notably, sadness.
This moment is deeply personal to all of us; through our lived experiences, we are all too familiar with the impact of racial injustice in our community, notwithstanding our success as Black professionals. We also know that the issues that led to these unnecessary deaths are deeply rooted in our nation’s history and have continued to exist due to the lack of meaningful change. We must all take responsibility for our biases, actions and inactions. Additionally, educational, government and corporate institutions must make focused, accountable investments to drive change.
We are proud of the firm’s leadership for speaking out on this issue, for moving quickly to support all of us by creating safe spaces for dialogue, and for investing in organizations that directly support Black Americans who have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also encouraging to know that the firm is actively considering other ways to support and strengthen the Black community.
We are also pledging to do our part by committing our time and our resources internally and externally in our community.
We extend our support to members of our Morgan Stanley family. We are here as a source of comfort and encouragement and invite you to connect with any of us in the coming days and beyond. Externally, we are making a donation to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, an organization committed to fighting for racial justice and equality for all Americans.
We believe that we have the power to create long lasting social, educational and economic change. We invite our Morgan Stanley colleagues to do the same.
Respectfully,
Tosin Ajayi
Peter Akwaboah
Kow Atta-Mensah
Bruce Burrows
Kwasi Benneh
Lancelot Comrie
Mandell Crawley
Tanya Curry
Conroy Daley
Malick Diop
Valerie Dixon
Amina Elderfield
Amy Ellis
Ekene Ezulike
Crystal Farmer
Alphonzo Grant
Aliah Greene
Carol Greene-Vincent
Aaron Greeno
Carla Harris
Vanessa Henley
Melissa James
Nigel James
Derek Melvin
Johnbull Okpara
Christopher Owens
Les Peter
Lucy Quist
Susan Reid
Sandra Richards
Steve Rodgers
Patrick Romain
Chris Scott
Wendy Sylvester
Jeffrey Tucker
George Van Amson
Karen Veary
Alice Vilma
Larry Wilson
Yared Yawand-Wossen