Atlanta (Special to ZennieReport.com ) – There are Linkedin posts that you forget, then ones you don’t. Alex Membrillo , the CEO of Cardinal Digital Marketing, wrote a post four years ago, but this blogger happened to find recently. It’s about ending systemic racism, and by the looks of the text, came to life as a reaction to the horrifying public murder of George Floyd. Now, before I get to Alex Membrillo;s Linkedin post, a word about how I found it.
I located it in the middle of searching for engagements with companies who needed SEO, aka “search engine optimization” specialists. The firm I built, Zennie62Media, Inc, has formed a legendary expertise in this area, and focused on helping our clients who have been damaged by bad mainstream media behavior.
The firm, Atlanta-based Cardinal Digital Marketing, came up as a possible candidate, but I like to check out the racial background of firms, so I searched for “Cardinal Digital Marketing racism” and found Alex Membrillo;s post. It was so compelling, I decided to give it the appropriate search-result light of day by sprinkling some SEO on what Mr. Membrillo wrote. This post is that attempt to do so. Here’s what he wrote:
Alex Membrillo On Black Lives Matter And Ending Systemic Racism
We can’t let the momentum slow down.
We need to be able to look back and say that our generation ended systemic racism.
I’ve spent the last three weeks learning from peers and figuring out how I can start being part of the solution instead of the problem.
It starts with changing my internal biases and stereotypes. This will take ongoing attention to my thoughts and tweaking to ensure that I notice when it happens.
It continues with speaking up. Speaking up when others around me make comments that don’t align with ending this biased thought & action pattern.
At Cardinal we are making monthly donations to activist groups so the momentum continues and we are having weekly conversations about the Black Lives Movement and what we can do in each of our lives to end racism.
I encourage all business leaders to give the afternoon of June 19th off for reflection for their teams. Not just this year but every year. And then make sure you talk about what they learned with your teams the following week.
Finally – just because the movement may not be in the news in a few weeks does not mean we can let up.
Let’s band together and keep the conversation top of mind so this ends in 2020.
Awesome But Does Alex Membrillo And Cardinal Digital Marketing Actully Work With Black Professionals Like Me?
Given Alex paragraph that “It starts with changing my internal biases and stereotypes. This will take ongoing attention to my thoughts and tweaking to ensure that I notice when it happens”, I wondered if I would find anyone who looked like me.
Well, among the 92 people associated with Cardinal Digital Marketing, the answer is no. No, if you consider Cardinal Digital Marketing has not one black man associated with it. But, yes, Cardinal Digital Marketing has one black person, a woman, in its group of associates.
So, after four years, Cardinal Digital Marketing doesn’t have the look the words of its leader would imply. Or does it?
Another read of Alex Membrillo’s work has the words “At Cardinal we are making monthly donations to activist groups so the momentum continues and we are having weekly conversations about the Black Lives Movement and what we can do in each of our lives to end racism.” Well, Alex, choosing to work with a number of black professionals in digital marketing and SEO would help.
The reason is simple. While Alex struggled with how to improve his relationship with black folks, he did not focus on the professional world. That much is evident in the head count for his firm, four years later.
Alex Meet Luke Davis
Meanwhile, in the same 2020 year of the George Floyd Murder that saw Alex write and then posting his Black Lives Matter moment, a black man named Luke Davis wrote “Being Black in Digital Marketing”. It’s a post Alex should read because, well, for all practical purposes, the environment he has where only one black person is shown is mentioned by Luke Davis. Take this paragraph:
Microaggressions—brief but common forms of communication that can be derogatory towards people from marginalised groups—are an unfortunate part of office life. For Jamar Ramos of Crunchy Links, they were a fundamental reason why he doesn’t miss working in an office.
I saw that and wondered if that lone black woman was dealing with the same problem in Alex’ Cardinal Digital Marketing office. So, the question for Alex is, what have you learned with respect to Black Lives Matter over the last four years?
Waiting for the answer.