In Black America; A Tribute to Vernon Jordan from Summit On Race, with Vernon Jordan

The following programs attribute to the late Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. Jordan died on March 1, 2021. He was 85. From the University of Texas at Austin, KUT Radio, this is in Black America. He said, I grew up poor and white in the South. You grew up poor and black in the South. And we both achieved in our careers pretty well. Then both of us, you and I succeeded great men under tragic circumstances. John Kennedy was assassinated, Whitney Young drowned. There was doubt about our ability to succeed these great men, Johnson said. And then he said, Vernon, I was a good president and I brought you here to Austin to help you

get off to a good start. I am here today because over time, President Johnson's words to me have gained wisdom. Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. civil rights icon, former president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League, and former executive director of the United Negro College Fund. This past spring, the OBJ presidential library on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin hosted the summit on race in America, liberty and justice for all. The Seminole event explored our nation's continual racial divide and struggle for racial equality. The three-day summit brought together civil rights icon and sting leaders, activists, and musicians, comedians and other artists for opening candid discussions on the failures, progress, and challenges our nation faces on race today through conversation, performances, film, clips, and presentations.

The summit took on self-build the issues of our time, including voting rights, immigration, movement building, economic empowerment, and the betrayal of race through the media. I'm John L. Hanson, Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America. On this week's program, the summit on race in America, liberty and justice for all, whether we go from here with Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. in Black America. While leaders like Ken Chinat, Ursula Burns, and Andrew Nueh, rose to become chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies, their announcements to retire have not been met with or matched to buy other companies, elevating people of color or women to the top job. Instead, there are only three African-American CEOs in the Fortune 500, the lowest number since 2002, and they are currently only 27 women CEOs in the Fortune 500, down from 32

only a couple of years ago. What can account for this decline and what are we going to do about it? I will not pretend to have all the answers, and for all of my years in business, my best analogy comes from politics. Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. has been called the Rosa Parks of American Business, born on August 15, 1935 in Atlanta, Georgia. Jordan is a civil rights icon, business consultant, and influential power broker. Jordan is a graduate of the Power University, where he earned a political science degree in 1957, and Howard University School of Law. Number one to sit on the sideline, in 1951 he helped he segregate colleges and universities in Georgia. From 1961 to 1963, he was the field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Georgia.

In 1977, Jordan became exactly the director of the United Negro College Fund, in 1971 he became president of the National Urban League. He held that position for 10 years. On May 29, 1980, Jordan was shot and seriously wounded outside a hotel in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This incident became the first story covered by CNN, and as we all know by now, Jordan became a close confidant and political adviser to President Bill Clinton. This past spring, Jordan was a keynote speaker. At the summit on race in America, held at the LBJ presidential library on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, the following is an excerpt of that presentation. Now, let me explain the situation you were in with me this morning, and I can only explain it by telling you a true story. I'm a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church all my life, and there was this young pastor who had just graduated from seminary, and the bishop assigned him to a church in

a small town in Georgia to begin his pastoral ministry, and the young pastor was sighted about the beginning of his pastoral ministry, so he went to this small Georgia town, and on Saturday he went around the community to say, I'm the new pastor here, and I'm beginning my pastoral ministry tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to seeing you at church in the morning. The morning came, and it was raining and storming, and in the black community, the streets were unpaid, so they were almost, you couldn't get through anywhere, but he was excited about the beginning of his pastoral ministry, so he put on this suit he got for graduation and his new shirt, and he went to the church at nine in the morning, nobody showed up for

Sunday school, and at 11 o'clock nobody had shown for church. At 11.20, one soul parishioner shows up for the church service, so the young new pastor rushes down to the soul parishioner and says, brother, I'm the new pastor here, I've just graduated from seminary, but in seminary they don't teach you what to do when only one parishioner shows up for the church service. He said, do you have any suggestions? And the soul parishioner says, well preacher, I'm not a preacher, I'm a farmer, and all I know is that when I load my wagon full of hay to go feed my cows, and only one cow shows up for the feeden, I feed them.

So the young pastor went into the pulpit, sang the opening hymn, read from the Old Testament, and from the New Testament, and prayed a 15-minute morning prayer, followed by the altar call, followed by the sermon which took him 45 minutes to preach. And then he opened the door of the church, but there was nobody to join. He served the Holy Communion, he took up the collection. He wanted to welcome the visitors, but there were no visitors to welcome, and finally he got to the benediction and the doxology, and then he rushed down to the soul parishioner and says, well, how did I do on my first Sunday?

And the soul parishioner said, well, preach, I'm an preacher, I'm a farmer. And when I load my wagon full of hay to go feed my cows, and only one cow shows up for the feeden, I don't give them the whole damn load these days. So I tell you that to say to you that I did not come all the way from New York to talk for two minutes. I brought a whole load of paper, and I'm going to say every damn word. It's a great privilege for me to be here with all of you at the LBJ library for this summit

on race in America. My very first invitation to the LBJ library was personally extended by President Johnson himself. He invited me to keynote his historic civil rights symposium in December of 1972. And that speech, I reflected on where we had been and where we were headed. And I said the following, in the 60s, the issue was the right to sit on the bus. Today, the issue is where the bus is going and what does it cost to get there. And the 60s, the issue was the right to eat at the lunch counter. Today, the issue is a hunger and malnutrition that stalked the land. In the 60s, the issue was fair employment opportunity.

Today, we can no longer be separated from full employment of black people and equal access to every kind and level of employment up to, and including top policy-making jobs. And today, two decades into this 21st century, for all the progress we've made, too many of those issues remain. And more come to mind, mass incarceration, maternal mortality, voter suppression, national regression. And our strategies must become as sophisticated as the times have become complicated. But just as some of the problems remain, some of the solutions remain consistent. Even after all this time, in 1972, when I finished my talk, President Johnson took me

into the green room and complimented me on my effort. And he said, Vernon, you know why I invited you. And I said, no, sir, Mr. President, he said, I invited you because you and I have a lot in common. And I said, tell me about it, Mr. President. He said, I grew up poor and white in the south. You grew up poor and black in the south. And we both achieved in our careers pretty well. Then both of us, you and I succeeded great men under tragic circumstances. One candidate was assassinated, Whitney Young drowned. There was doubt about our ability to succeed these great men, Johnson said.

And then he said, Vernon, I was a good President. And I brought you here to Austin to help you get off to a good start. I am here today because over time, President Johnson's words to me have gained wisdom. First, I believe we all have a lot in common. We care about racial progress in America and the many issues we've discussed over the last two days. Second, I think we come together because we hope and we believe that this progress can succeed even under, if not tragic, then trying circumstances. These include, but are by no means limited to the continued assault on our democratic institutions, on voting rights, on people of color, on black churches.

And while my own career no longer needs what President Johnson called a good start, today I come to pass on a modified version of his advice to all of you, and particularly to the executives and companies in the audience. So what was President Johnson's advice to me? It was in our quote, get your own people. Of course, for obvious reasons, he meant put your own team in place. But today, the kinds of teams we put in place is more important than ever. One of the many ways we can continue to work towards equality in these trying times

is to not just get your own people, but get people of color into positions of leadership. Of course, President Johnson gave me that advice nearly 47 years ago. And in the early 70s, you could count the number of black people on the boards of directions, directors at Fortune 500 companies on two hands. You'll be glad to know that over the last five decades, that number has gone up. In fact, it has been a great privilege of my life to serve on over 20 corporate boards to work closely with titans of interest, industry, and leaders from across the world. But if we look at the current state of corporate leadership today, there are reasons to be encouraged

and reasons to be discouraged with the amount of progress we have made when it comes to issues of diversity. According to a recent report from Deloitte, just over 16% of board seats on the Fortune 500 were held by minorities, a slight increase from 2016. The story is somewhat better for women, near a quarter of all board seats in the Fortune 100 are held by women. But when women make up more than half the population, it seems to me that a quarter of the seats is only halfway there. Taken together, in 2018, there were 145 companies in the Fortune 500 that had boards made up of over 40% women and minorities.

On the one hand, this is incredible progress. Less than a decade ago in 2010, the number was only 54 companies. And yet, it is still only 145 companies out of 500. So there is room to improve the makeup of these boards. And it may not surprise you that the companies that do better financially are the same companies doing better when it comes to having blacks and women on their boards. We can also look beyond the boardroom to trends in executive leadership. Our leaders like Ken Chinat, Ursula Burns, and Andrew Nueh, roles to become chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies, their announcements to retire have not been met with or matched to buy other companies, elevating people of color or women to the top job.

Instead, there are only three African-American CEOs in the Fortune 500, the lowest number since 2002. And there are currently only 27 women CEOs in the Fortune 500 down from 32 only a couple of years ago. Ken account for this decline and what are we going to do about it? I will not pretend to have all the answers. And for all of my years in business, my best analogy comes from politics. For many, the election of President Obama represented the finish line, the beginning of what was hailed as to post racial America. And if the idea was misguided in 2008, it seems downright naïve in 2019.

President Obama was not the finish line. He was not even the first in line because there was no one clearly coming up behind him. He was the exception more than the rule. Think about it this way. Just as there are only three African-American CEOs in the Fortune 500, there are only three African-American senators in the United States Senate. And whether it is the president of the country or the CEO of a company, it seems the rise of prominent leaders of color, or women leaders, has happened almost despite our systems rather than because of them. Of course, when a person of color, a woman, or all to rally a woman of color, occupies

a leadership position for the first time, that tenure takes on a symbolic weight, which has great value. It communicates to generations that they too can lead and inspires them to reach higher. But today, we are realizing the need to move beyond the symbolic and towards the systemic to advocate not only for representation, but for representation that can replicate itself. And I don't mean to suggest that every person of color should have a person of color succeed them, or that every woman in power should be followed by a woman. But for people of every color and background and identity to succeed, there must be representation

not only at the highest levels, but at every level. So in order to do that, we have to ask ourselves, how do we not just blaze new trails, but build highways of talent and opportunity? We have to ask hard questions about recruitment and retention, compensation, and promotion. In other words, it is no longer sufficient to settle for the exceptions. We must do our part to change the rules. Otherwise, we will curtail the process of our companies and our country. For all that has been built by American companies, we have to ask ourselves, how much more

could we have accomplished with more and more diverse voices in the room? How much more will we be able to accomplish if we can overcome the discredited prejudices that put America at competitive disadvantages? Diversity is no longer just a nice thing to do, or a defensive move or a compliance issue. Diversity is imperative for survival and essential for excellence. That's why lasting progress and shared success will only be possible if we follow a version of President Johnson's advice to me all those years ago.

We need to find the people who give us the best chance of succeeding, and that means finding talented people of every background to build more diverse organizations, organizations that will better serve America if they represent the whole of America. We have to find people who contribute to our teams, who demonstrate their talent, who may be leaders about our organization, not just next year, but 10, 20, 30 years from now because I believe they are out there. Of course, we do ourselves of this service if we only consider the present and the future without remembering and learning from our past.

President Johnson once said, to be black in a white society is not to stand on level and equal ground, while the racism may stand side by side, whites stand on histories mountain and blacks stand in histories hollow. Until we overcome unequal history, we cannot overcome unequal opportunity. And while this year marks 55 years since the signing of the Civil Rights Act, it also marks 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived in North America. In other words, only a fraction of the time that black people have been in this country have our rights been recognized, and even in that relatively brief window, the matter

has not been settled or the progress saved. But everything we have talked about at this gathering, every issue and inequality that persists today, has such deep roots that it is not enough to cut back the thorns and think the work is over. The roots go back beyond the 1960s or the 1860s or even 1619. And I believe that as a nation, we can continue to reckon with that difficult history. Because the issue of the 70s is still the issue of today. And the issue of today is that survival, survival of our nation and its institutions, the survival

of the dream of equality, we fought for in the 60s. To take President Johnson's formulation and offer my own. If we avoid our unequal history, then we abandon equal opportunity. If we forget our unequal history, then we forestall equal opportunity. If we bury our unequal history, then we sow the seeds of unequal opportunity for generations to come. This has been a tribute to the late Vernon E. Jordan Jr., civil rights icon, Jordan died on March 1st, 2021, he was 85. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions asked your future in Black America programs,

email us at inblackamerica at kut.org. Also let us know what radio station you heard us over. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. You can get previous programs online at kut.org. Also you can listen to a special collection of in Black America programs at American Archive Public Broadcasting. That's americanarchive.org. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. Until we have the opportunity again for technical producer David Alvarez, I'm John L. Hansen Jr. Thank you for joining us today. Please join us again next week. 3D copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America CDs. KUT Radio, 300 West Dean Keaton Boulevard, Austin, Texas, 78712. That's in Black America CDs, KUT Radio, 300 West Dean Keaton Boulevard, Austin, Texas,

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