"I can't breathe."
Those were the final words uttered by George Floyd as he pleaded for his life.
On behalf of the leadership team at Transdev, I want to express our grief and outrage at the senseless death of another black person – a tragedy caused by embedded racism which has a long and tragic history in our country.
We must all come together to change this historical paradigm. Racism causes great injustice and can occur in everyday situations causing fear, anxiety and anger. This is not acceptable in a civil society. We must not rest until every person is truly valued as an equal human being.
Transdev U.S. is a rich tapestry of over 16,000 people with diverse backgrounds, voices and talents. We as a company, are better and stronger because of our collective diversity. At every level of our company we are committed to treating others with the respect and dignity we all deserve. We are also devoted to including diverse points of view in our decision-making.
As a privileged white male, I will never be able to fully comprehend the life experiences of black people in this country. Yet I do know that we can and must develop awareness of our own unintentional biases wherever they exist. We need to catch ourselves and recalibrate when we realize we may have shown bias in a particular situation or when we have not lived up to our commitments and values. We need to have honest dialogue and learn from these situations.
These are important topics and we will be discussing them more going forward. I welcome your observations on these topics: How can we better value diversity of history and include differing opinions? How can we better engage our employees in creating a culture where tolerance and mutual respect are the norm? What are your ideas?
Feel free to email me directly with your thoughts. We’re listening.
Sincerely,
Dick Alexander
CEO, Transdev U.S.
