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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

Happy UK Black History Month! While distinctly rooted in its colonial past, this is intrinsically linked to the United States, where the legacy of slavery continues to shape political and societal structures, underscoring the global impact of historical injustices and the ongoing struggle for racial equality and justice.

This week, Reuters continued its series on slavery and America’s political elite which found that a fifth of U.S. congressmen, living presidents, Supreme Court justices and governors have direct ancestors who enslaved Black people.

This time, it focuses on Lacretia Johnson Flash and a direct descendant of the people who enslaved her ancestors, U.S.  Republican congressman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky. Click here for the Reuters exclusive investigation.

Readers will be well aware of the incorporation of racial equality within the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework, but it is essential to emphasize that addressing slavery and its ramifications is rooted in historical realities and empirical evidence.

To quote Lacrecia: “confronting the legacy of slavery requires a willingness to be vulnerable”.

Lacretia Johnson Flash holds a photograph of her ancestors Tapp and Amy Craig in Linden, Tennessee, U.S. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm

Linking slaveholders to individuals they held is challenging. That’s because crucial historical records – antebellum “slave schedules” – seldom included more than the age, race and sex of enslaved people.

But using a variety of sources, Reuters documented those connections for two of Brett Guthrie’s ancestors – one who enslaved Lacretia’s great-great-grandfather, the other her great-great-grandmother.

Reporters then traced forward the two lineages – the white Guthries and the Black family known as the Craigs – to explore how the descendants of the enslavers and those they enslaved have fared since emancipation.

Their story illuminates how the legacy of slavery continues to shape America, even as U.S. leaders remain divided on how, or whether, to engage with that troubling past.

The two families’ histories encompass the economic constraints that faced the emancipated; the disparities in educational opportunities that hobbled generations of African Americans; and government policies and practices, shaped by prejudice, that separated white from Black.

Today, those elements contribute to a wide racial wealth gap. A 2019 review by the U.S. Federal Reserve found that Black Americans have roughly one-eighth the net worth of white Americans.

Education is no panacea, either: Using the same data as the other review, a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that the net worth of a household led by a Black person with a four-year degree was $51,000 – less than that of a white person without a college degree. Households led by white college graduates, meanwhile, had nearly $300,000 in wealth on average.

Policies and practices that have disadvantaged Black Americans generation after generation help explain the racial wealth gap.

In 1865, Southern states began enacting so-called Black Codes, including a range of rules restricting the freedom of emancipated Black people. The laws obliged Black people to have labor contracts or risk imprisonment for vagrancy, and exclude them from working in some skilled trades.

Fast-forward to 1935, the U.S. government created the Federal Housing Administration to protect mortgage lenders. The agency’s manual for underwriting instructed that “if a neighborhood is to retain stability, it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same racial classes.”

Taking an even bigger leap to 2008, the Great Recession and a collapse in the U.S. housing market dramatically lowered the value of many people’s most valuable assets. Surveys taken after the recession showed white households recovered that wealth quicker than Black households, which continue losing wealth for several more years.

Click here for a Reuters timeline on the policies and laws that furthered the racial wealth gap.

People rally during a ‘Walk for Yes’, hosted by the Yes23 campaign for the referendum on Indigenous issues, at Todd River in Alice Springs, Australia. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

Clare Adams, director of education strategy at Handshake, a UK-based early career management platform, shares her thoughts on diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM):

“Inclusion is a unique word. It represents the catalyst for change while also promoting equality. 

“The systemic biases that have historically been talked about can still be felt in the 21st-century world. Here, we are in a world where artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a dream but an actual tool we can use. Our cars can soon be self-driven, yet women must still break barriers to achieve equality and advance in their careers. 

“For instance, one such sector is software development – the gender discrepancy is significant when you consider males equate to 91.88% while women represent 5.17%, demonstrating there is a higher risk of gender bias in the STEM sector. The question we often hear from women in the workforce is how do we overcome these challenges?

“The answer is simple – the leadership teams, particularly male executives, in the workforce must do more to support employee well-being and foster inclusion by implementing strong Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programmes internally and promoting this ethos to the broader public at a grassroots level.

“DEI should no longer be seen as purely a corporate responsibility but as a corporate action that must be propelled in all significant business objectives.” 

A U.S. civil rights agency sued Tesla, claiming the electric carmaker has tolerated severe harassment of Black employees at its flagship Fremont, California, assembly plant, in charges similar to cases brought by the state and by Tesla employees.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said in the lawsuit filed in federal court in California that from 2015 to the present, Black workers at the Tesla plant have routinely been subjected to racist slurs and graffiti, including swastikas and nooses.

Tesla faces several other race discrimination lawsuits that make similar claims, including a class action by workers at the Fremont plant and a lawsuit by a California civil rights agency. The company in those cases has said it does not tolerate discrimination and takes workers complaints seriously.

Atomo Coffee’s ‘beanless coffee’, which uses superfoods and upcycled ingredients to mimic the molecular structure of coffee. Atomo Coffee/Handout via REUTERS.

From beanless coffee in Washington, U.S. to seaweed biofuel in Belize, today’s spotlight highlights pioneering eco-friendly solutions that reduce environmental impacts in America.

A Seattle-based startup backed by some of the investors behind Beyond Meat is launching the world’s first beanless coffee as it bids to slash the brew’s environmental impact.

The innovation has caught the eye of investors, who have poured $51.6 million into Atomo Coffee in the hope that its brew – which uses superfoods and upcycled ingredients to mimic the molecular structure of coffee – will be a hit with consumers.

Atomo says its initial “proof-of-concept” cold brew beanless coffee caused 93% fewer carbon emissions and used 94% less water than regular coffee. Time Magazine named it one of the 200 best inventions of 2022.

Belize’s Prime Minister Juan Antonio Briceno speaks during the opening plenary session at the Ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California, U.S.. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

In Belize, the Central American nation is developing a pilot project to convert the masses of foul-smelling sargassum seaweed swamping its pristine beaches into biofuel, its prime minister said in a statement published by regional Caribbean bloc CARICOM.

Many Caribbean countries depend economically on drawing travelers from around the world to their white sand beaches, but since 2010 heaps of rotting seaweed have been massing on the shores for reasons scientists do not yet fully understand but suspect are related to climate change.

Floating sargassum provides shelter and food for marine animals but as it washes ashore it can smother ecological habitats and begin to rot, becoming harmful to humans.

 “I don’t have a desire for anyone to feel guilty for the actions of others in the past, but if we don’t confront that past, it will continue to contaminate the present. Conversations about race might leave a scar, but they will also help us heal.”

Lacretia Johnson Flash, senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at U.S.-based school for performing arts education, Berklee

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