Starbucks has had not only had the shirts but has handed them out. It announced a Company Tweet that read follows. Until these arrived we heard you want to show your support. Just be you. Wear your blm pin or tshirt. We trust you to do whats right while never forgetting starbucks is a welcoming third place when all are treated with dignity. And meanwhile, moto scapes kim under fire for posting this. The top of the image reads believe it or not its okay to be all three. The three circles then read outraged by George Floyds death. Does not condone looting and rioting. And supports good police officers. The word me written in the middle of all three circles. The image was captioned black lives matter. We stand for justice and peace, united we stand, united we fall. For critics, the juxtaposition was too reminiscent of all lives matter. Founders said this, moto scapes severely apologize regarding the black lives movement. We understand this is not enough, we will continue the support to the best of our knowledge and will provide more information regarding our actions in the upcoming days. On new york magazines food blog called grub street. Several restaurants were called out for what was described as empty tweets that didnt go far enough. Burger king shared a quote, cinky all lower case rift on the Company Slogan when it comes to peoples liveses there only one way to have it without discrimination. Mcdonalds published a square, they were once one of us, the post reads. Pop eye deleted the tweet saying we are nothing without black lives and then reposted it with additional words sharing their commitment to fofrter an environment where quality is a priority. And papa johns saying our hearts go tout our employees. And taco bell, we dont tolerate racism or violence against black people. The extent of substantive change that will come from George Floyds death remains to be seen. It might include new statues like aborogation of equality. And an uptick in africanamerican positions in the upper ranks of businesses or professions. Or it might take the form of better Racial Attitudes expressed in polling or perhaps well expand our own social circles. But one question in the short term is this, do businesses have an obligation to support black lives matter. And that is todays survey question at smerconish con. C. Co. Joining me now is john pebbles, the largest blackowned Real Estate Company in the u. S. In 2009 forbes listed him in the topten of wealthiest black americans. He has served on the National Finance committee of president barack obama and the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus foundation. Mr. Pebbles, you get to go first, do businesses have an obligation to be supportive of black lives matter. Yeah, businesses have an obligation to be supportive of black lives matter. What does black lives matter means. It means black ambition matters. It means black dreams matter. Black Education Matters so its a broader perspective and yet businesses have an obligation to create a failure and equitable environment. And that has not been done in this country and the statistics show that. Do they need to voice it, and i guess theres a second questionch to whom do they owe a duty . Theyre stockholders if their publicly traded or to the public at large. What about the statement were in the business to make widgets not to be socially involved . I think thats a myopic view of what capitalism means. I think our founder fathers looked at whether capitalism could play a vital role in the expansion of the american dream. Businesses have a role, one of them is the expansion of fair unit and expansion of our economy. They need to take affirmative step stos the community that actually helped build this country. And that means that africanamericans need to have a fair and equitable opportunity. The average net worth for a black house hold is 17,000 versus the average net worth for a white family is 171,000. You have this tremendous wealth disparity. And businesses have an obligation to close that wealth disparity by closing fair access to capital. You mentioned starbucks, how about more africanamerican franchisees. How about other companies, papa johns, more black franchisees, making an effort to make sure their businesses reflect the population and demographics of the communities that theyre actually selling to. In the Washington Post coverage of the starbucks controversy there was a comment that caught my eye. Ill put it on the screen and read it aloud. Someone regarded the change of heart as being stupid. I expect to buy a product or service. I dont want statements or policy from the company or the employees. Work is not the time or the place to express the political or societal view us of the owners or staff. Don pebbles would say what in response to that thought process . Well, i dont think that black lives matters and the agenda for black lives matter is a political statement. Its an american statement. On that day, human rights statement. So, i understand that businesses dont want political messages like wearing a biden or a trump tshirt. But i dont know its just as much as wearing the American Flag in a store. I think that black lives do matter and that is is not a political message. So, i dont see the point in that perspective. I think that its again a narrowing and simplistic approach to what the agenda is for black lives matter. Right. So that is your response to the slippery slope. You are able to distinguish between black lives matter and the 2020 president ial race or the lgbtq support that starbucks has embraced, versus wearing a maga hat or a joe biden button . Yes, absolutely. And i dont believe, by the way, that any party has a monopoly on fairness either. I think at the end of the day, what americans want and why youre seeing these protesters be reflective of our population. I mean, you see as many white protesters as you see africanamericans. In some protests, you see more whites. And thats because the capitalistic system in this country has grown unfair. Wealth is so concentrated in a small group of people that even young whites know that this system is stacked against them in terms them pursuing their dreams. Theyre more empathetic to africanamericans and the flight that africanamericans have been going through for centuries. Give advice to a friend of mine who asked me the following question this past week. An employer of 20 or 30 people having nothing to do with public policy. Truly the classic widgetmaker. And he said one or two of his employees have come to him wanting to know, well, whats our position on the current controversy . And essentially, what are we going to do about it . You would have said what with your wealth of corporate experience . Well, what our position is that were an American Company and were based on fairness. The premise of our business and the premise of what we operate in is fairness. Anyone who doesnt get access to fairness, thats a detriment to our business. We ought to focus on that. Our companys tag line is affirmative development. That means we take aggressive steps to include all aspects of our society in the business opportunities. And we think that the buildings that we build should be built by people reflective of the population of demographics of the community that we build in. Same thing about other businesses. Women and minorities are an essential part of this country and in many instances are a majority of the population. And women are the majority of this country. So businesses have an obligation to provide access fairly to these people who have not had them before. And the reality is, every measurable statistic proves that this system is is not fair, when it comes to providing opportunities for women. And its not fair when it provides opportunities for africanamericans. And its business obligation to do something about this. We cant delegate this to politicians look whats happened already. Don pebbles, thank you for coming back. Thank you for having me. What are your thoughts, tweet me, kathryn, what do we have, facebook. The question should be, why wouldnt businesses support it, keith romero weighs in. Your opportunity to weigh is right now. Go to my website smerconish. Com, do businesses have an obligation to support black lives matter . Up ahead, should schooling reopen this fall . My next guest says Remote Learning is no substitute for education. And then the n word to okay boomer, many found that not to be okay. Still ever appropriate to use the n word in an academic setting . 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I think most adults will start realizing that they dont recall things as quickly as they used to or they dont remember things as vividly as they once did. Ive been taking prevagen for about three years now. People say to me periodically, man, youve got a memory like an elephant. Its really, really helped me tremendously. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Were already halfway through june, and many parents are still wondering, are my kids going back to school in the fall . Is it safe . According to stay cdc report, 80 of those killed by covid19 were 60 or older. The young, thankfully, have been largely spared. The covid19 fatality rate in the u. S. For anyone younger than 19 is so low that its calculated as 0. 0 . According to the Washington Post, in denmark and norway, students have been back in school since april 20 with no increase in covid19 cases. My next guest argues the u. S. Must be creative to get kids back in the classroom. His Bloomberg Opinion piece is titled schools should open in full this fall they serve too vital a function to stay closed and Remote Learning is a disaster. Joining me now is a bloomberg columnist who covers vision. Joe, what do you envision for the fall . Well, in the best case scenario, kids would go back to school five days a week. Teachers will go back to school five days a week. School personnel will go to class five days a week. Students practice social distancing but theyre in school. My argument is pretty simple, if you do one of these things where only ten kids are in a class or, you know, youre in school two days and youre out of school three days, you cant reopen society, because the society cant function if kids arent in school. Right. That seems to be an argument that puts business first. Hey, we better send the kids off to school because we need the parents back in the workforce. Well, thats true. I understand that argument. But theres a couple things i would argue. Number one, you know, an economy that doesnt function has enormous damage to people. In terms of being out of work. In terms of depression. In terms of rises in Domestic Violence and abuse. And just in terms of sheer, you know, misery, homeless people, on and on and on. The other point to be made is that the risk of a child catching, being infected is so small. Its infinitessimal. Especially deaths. I mean, its an extremely rare event. More kids die from, you know, slipping in the bathtub than covid. Now, the argument okay the argument is theyll infect their parents or theyll infect their teachers, theyll infect their grandparents when they go home. The jurys still out on that, in terms of the studies. Its hard to know if thats true or not. The important thing, michael, weve been given a huge break in that theres control groups out there. Theres denmark, norway, south korea. All of these countries that have opened their schools already, we should be watching them intently. Watching what they do and watching what the covid rate is for them. And if their rate does not go up, then we should be able to do what they do and have the same result. Okay in your piece, and youve just addressed it in part, you anticipate what im sure many are thinking as they watch this ill put it on the screen whenever i talk to friends about the importance of reopening schools, the pushback is always the same. Kids may be asymptomatic, they reply, but theyll spread the virus to more vulnerable adults when they go home. What about the teacher, what about the bus driver, what about the cafeteria worker . I would argue a couple things. Number one, we dont seem to mind when amazon workers are called essential and they put themselves in a lot more danger than a teacher would. Yet, teachers are not essential . I dont really understand that. Number two, as i said before, there is not we dont have proof one way or the other that kids spread the disease. I mean, i know people where the child, and theyre sheltering in place, the kid winds up having covid asymptomatic. And the parents dont get it. You know, so we dont know yet know. But what im saying is, keep an open mind about this. Dont make any decision right now about what to do about school. But watch these other countries. And follow their example, if theyre able to open schools without i mean why would you do anything else . Quick final question, if i may. Are you surprised that there hasnt been more of a Movement Among parents who share your view who are saying on a local level, hey, we want our kids back in school . Im not. And ill tell you why, michael. Ive gotten a lot of emails from people saying youre right, youre right, youre right. But i cant say that because if i say that, ill be viewed as a, you know, a baby killer or somebody who doesnt care about kids. It sends a bad signal to people around me. And ill be attacked and vilified. And so people are afraid to speak out about this. Even though many, many people agree with me that the risk is so minimal that schools should be open. And we havent even talked about the disastrous learning. Joe nocera, thank you, appreciate you being here. Thanks, michael, always a pleasure. Lets see what youre saying via social media, facebook and twitter. Michael, would you send your kids to school in september . Fabrizio, heres your direct answer, yes. Mine are older. Mine are older. One who graduated from college ten days ago, two weeks ago. One who is arising sophomore. One who is in grad school. And, yes, id send them back. I wouldnt send them against their will. But im prepared for them to return. By the way, the second of them is scheduled to go overseas for a graduate program. I question, and im not critical of the decision because we didnt know then what we know now, i hope when all is said and done, when the dust settles and were beyond covid19, that we will look at the decision to have dispersed them to begin with, because i question whether it was wise to send thousands and thousands of students on airplanes. Disperse them when in fact the data now suggests that theyre not the necessarily ones we have to worry about. Perhaps they should have stayed on campuses. Im tonguetied. Thats what im trying to say. So, yeah, thats my answer. Dont forget to answer this weeks survey question at smerconish. C smerconish. Com. Do businesses have an obligation to support black lives matter . Hope youre voting. Up ahead, this baby was born to a couple on march 23rd, due to the pandemic, the family like so many others around the globe still does not have permission to travel home. I want to talk to the parents about that situation. 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