Over the past week, I have been angry and saddened by the killing of George Floyd, and by the fact that he is just one among so many Black lives lost to systemic and dehumanizing violence. I have also been moved by the peaceful public demonstrations around the U.S. and the world advocating for change. As I’ve been considering speaking to the SCP membership, it’s also been hard to find the right words to fully reflect where we are and what needs to be done. I want to make it plain, however, that SCP believes that Black lives matter.
We also recognize there’s serious work to be done as we seek to be responsive to the challenges and potential of this moment. And we believe that SCP and our members can play a meaningful role in that work. Together, we can create and disseminate research that addresses and deepens the understanding that scholars and policy makers have about critical issues of racial justice in the marketplace. We can make space to thoughtfully raise these topics in the classroom with the next generation of diverse business leaders. We can undertake and amplify service activities that help our institutions and organizations achieve genuine equity and inclusion.
The SCP leadership is planning specific actions we can take across the many aspects of the Society—in our journals, our conferences, and in our interactions with one another. The new Journal of Consumer Psychology editorial team already planned to publish an upcoming research review focused on issues of cross-racial relationships. The 2018 JCP Research Dialogue on Diversity and Stigmatized Groups may be a helpful resource for personal learning and reflection, as well as to inspire new research ideas. JCP has opened the access to this collection, making it publicly available for the rest of the year. These are just two small ways we can begin to act.
Moving forward, SCP is committed to continue speaking up and engaging in actions in service of racial justice and anti-racism. As we make near and longer-term plans, I want to invite all of our members to share your ideas for how we can work together in these efforts. You can email the SCP leadership at scp@myscp.org. We want to hear from you. I will close with humility, an awareness of my own privilege, and a desire to approach these issues with sensitivity and intentionality. But also, with a commitment to harness SCP’s platform to contribute to the broader movement for racial justice.
Patti Williams