Bloomberg Industry Group’s Black Professional Community message on trauma and stress

The Black Professional Community at Bloomberg Industry Group sent out the following over the weekend:

BPC Family,

It’s been a hard year for many of us due to the economic, social, and emotional impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on our professional and personal lives. We are fortunate to work for an organization that has done so much to acknowledge and address the different aspects of this burden. For many of us, the daily and weekly emails we receive have been a source of encouragement.

As the Employee Resource Group dedicated to creating space, equity, and inclusion for Black professionals, it is critical that we formally acknowledge that this week has been one of the hardest for many of us and take time to memorialize three of the lives senselessly lost this year:

Ahmaud Arbery was chased and fatally shot by a white father and son duo in Brunswick, GA on February 23^rd while jogging.^[i]

Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by three white police officers in Louisville, KY on March 13^th during a narcotics raid.^[ii]

George Floyd died on Monday night (May 25^th), hours after a white police officer used an illegal knee restraint on Floyd’s neck for over five minutes during an arrest.^[iii]

The BPC Co-Chairs acknowledge the very real impacts of these events on Black professionals—coping with these deaths in the contexts of generational trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, and Black exhaustion. We recognize that many of our members and loved ones are exhausted from perpetually experiencing the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on communities of color, the public lynchings of people of color, the inaction and indifference many of us have witnessed, and the silencing and erasure of Black pain.

How do we move forward in a way that validates our resentment and disillusionment while creating space for us to once again bring our best selves to work and to our personal interactions?

 This is a complicated question that does not have a single answer, but we have endeavored to curate some readings that resonate with us.

• Living while black: Here are all the routine activities for which police were called on African-Americans this year
• The unbearable grief of Black mothers
• The Burnout Effect: The Dangers of Trying to Be Superwoman
• Grief is a direct impact of racism: Eight ways to support yourself
• How U.S. Companies Can Support Employees of Color Through the Pandemic

Stay safe, stay healthy, and know that BPC is here for each and every one of you.

Best,

Keris, Damien, Kayla & Marlowe

Your BPC Co-Chairs