Here’s how wellness pros should prepare for the verdict in the Chauvin trial

As White House aides work on a statement for President Joe Biden to deliver once the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial is rendered, so, too, are communications and diversity consultants advising the private sector on talking with employees.  

“Organizations shouldn’t underestimate the emotional stress that the weight of this situation is holding for us right now,” says Kerry Mitchell Brown, a cultural architect advising companies and nonprofits on how to combat anti-Black racism.

Any statement that a company issues needs to “absolutely connect and feel human,” she says. “Often there is a tendency to shape statements centering whiteness, as opposed to centering the people most impacted—Black and brown communities, and our broken justice system.”

Brown and Kim Clark, a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant at Ragan Consulting Group, are both working with businesses and nonprofits on statements and related activities to ensure that Black employees, in particular, will feel seen, heard and valued once the jurors announce their verdict. For any organization, this point in time is part of a lengthy, ongoing journey to fight systemic injustice, they say.