Pub. 17 2020 Issue 2

8 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S — H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S Many banks recognized this long before the pandemic hit and disproportionately harmed Black Americans, and long before the nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd and others. WASHINGTON UPDATE ROB NICHOLS, PRESIDENT AND CEO American Bankers Association I s racism baked into our nat ion’s systems of just ice, hea lth and educat ion, or are there dispropor t ionate correlat ions between race, pover ty and cr ime? Are people too quick to accuse others of racism, or are those in posit ions of power too slow to recognize their role in perpetuating rac ia l inequi t ies? Is i t fa i r that I posed these as e i t her/or que s t ions , or i s a l l of t he above t r ue? RUNNING TOWARD THE CHALLENGE