Life Insurance Groups Address George Floyd Death, Denounce Racism

Several life insurance groups joined to release a statement this afternoon addressing racism, the George Floyd death and resulting "tumult, hurt and anger" across U.S communities.

Community leaders are weary after five days of civil unrest in the United States following the death of Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing.

Floyd’s death on May 25 in Minneapolis was the latest in a series of deaths of black men and women at the hands of police in the U.S.

The life insurance statement is signed by Susan Neely, president and CEO, American Council of Life Insurers; George Nichols III, president and CEO, American College of Financial Services; Marc Cadin; president and CEO, Association for Advanced Life Underwriting; Kevin Mayeux, CEO, National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors; David Levenson, president and CEO, LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global.

Here is the statement:

The life insurance community grieves with the nation over the racial injustice, brutality and bigotry that took the life of George Floyd and the lives of so many others. Too often, the justice system has failed, bringing devastating consequences such as destroyed hope, fear and division.

Overcoming today’s agonizing rupture and advancing promise for all will require engagement by each of us – a resolve to face the pain, anxiety and frustration experienced by Black Americans and others subjected to prejudice. We must move forward with moral purpose, making contributions with our own abilities and sustained commitment.

For our part – on behalf of life insurance companies, producers and financial educators – when we say we’re committed to providing financial security to all Americans, we mean it.

We stand committed to helping all people take care of those they love – our most critical mission. Financial well-being is not just a state of mind, and we must focus our collective knowledge on empowering prosperity and opening avenues for collective growth. We are committed to identifying new policies that will provide greater financial security to more people – particularly for the most vulnerable among us.

We stand committed to sustained partnership in the community to drive solutions to address systemic inequality. And we stand committed to fostering diversity and inclusion for our employees and the workforce.

Building a diverse and inclusive profession for those we serve and those we employ is a journey. And we’re in it for the long term.

The tumult, hurt and anger we see today must be addressed for every person seeking to heal, find peace, experience equality, achieve unity, believe in the present, and have faith in the future for themselves and their families. As Dr. King said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”

We do it together.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.