One reason your letter is so disappointing is it’s utter lack of original thought- it’s essentially the same letter or statement made ad nauseam by countless privileged white liberals and CEOs, replete with virtue signaling and self-aggrandizement; yes, undoubtedly you are wonderful and woke and better than most. But I’m confused- were you and USAA prior to several weeks ago racists? Did you and USAA not believe all people should be treated with respect? Did you and USAA until recently champion police brutality and murder? Ultimately your sophomoric words are no more thoughtful or insightful than a beauty pageant contestant muttering something about believing the children are our future and being against world hunger.

I invite you to look at the USAA financial transactions of me and my wife. You’ll find in recent years thousands of dollars spent at a school in Virginia. These are used to sponsor a gentleman from East Africa to attend college in the US, someone I first met when I was a volunteer medical director at a remote clinic in Kenya during the height of the African AIDS epidemic. I doubt you could comprehend the suffering of those people and I can assure you each of those black lives lost to horrendous illnesses, from babies to adults, mattered a great deal to me, a belief independent of your recently inspired hipster social justice pontificating.

You’ll note transactions in Central America going back to 2001 and as recent as two months ago, those years spent running feeding programs for “brown and black” children, educational programs, vocational training, university sponsorship, health assistance, literacy programs, housing rehab- overall trying to improve and enhance lives and provide opportunities for “brown and black” people. Is this within your life experience? If so you know it requires lots of effort, money, commitment, time, willingness to experience relative discomfort, and even some danger. Undoubtedly what we’ve been doing pales in comparison to your lofty actions of “listening,” “fostering inclusivity,” and “standing with the black community.”  Your sacrifice must be Herculean and certainly there is no greater courage known to humankind than “engaging” in “conversations;” compared to such bravery General Davis and the 332^nd Fighter Group were virtual cowards. Perhaps you and others involved in “conversations” about “race, gender and orientation bias” should receive awards for valor.

I was surprised and taken aback by your sentiment that “I cannot begin to know what it’s truly like to be black in America.” Apparently being black in America is a homogenous thing that disallows black Americans from having individual life experiences. Perhaps in your estimation they are all gangstas from the hood, or they en masse yearn for watermelon and fried chicken. Certainly we cannot offer a black American the dignity of being an individual because, according to you, they are all the same. Do you know what’s it’s like to be a woman in America, or a person of oriental heritage? How about Hispanic? Or maybe in your experience everyone save for white people are mindless automatons incapable of making their own decisions, their destinies and behavior preordained by genetics.”

It is an unfortunate day in the distinguished history of USAA to see it genuflect to a mob of angry elite racialists, calculating and opportunistic politicians, and do-nothing, virtue signaling privileged white progressives, all trying to profit from a tragedy. How dare you even implicitly accuse my wife and I of racism, and arrogantly admonish us to “respect each other” and accept a coerced ritualistic purification through woke slogans. Your words suggest you are so overcome with your own fabulousness and enthusiasm to please your newly discovered cultural curators that you are fully ignorant of how insulting and, paradoxically, prejudiced you are.

While I am normally disinclined to engage in personal vituperations, I must observe that both the writing quality and the immaturity of your letter are consistent with an eighth grader given an assignment by an activist social studies teacher to write an essay begging for absolution for white privilege, using as many inane social justice catchphrases as possible. You have fully qualified for the obloquy of bigoted pompous ass. I do hope the USAA Board of Directors contains some adults with enough fortitude to pull the company back from your self-indulgent hubris, or at least constrain you from evolving your social justice consciousness, lest you topple statues of Lincoln and start sporting a balaclava.

Kind Regards,

Reid Fitzsimons

June 20, 2020

CEO Wayne Peacock shared recently with employees and on LinkedIn that USAA stands in support of the black community.

When I became USAA’s CEO earlier this year, I made a few promises to myself and our employees. One was to ensure we created an environment at USAA where each of us could be our best each day. The events of the last few weeks following the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor stand as stark reminders of the injustice still prevalent in our country. For me it has reinforced the depth of our challenge to support each other fully and in a meaningful way. Solving racial injustice in the short run will be incredibly difficult, talking about it openly may be awkward, but silence is not an option because so many in our nation feel the pain from the upheaval our country is experiencing right now.

The incidents have weighed heavily on many USAA employees and members. Each of us is a product of our life experiences and those are shaped by our gender, ethnic background and orientation, including the color of our skin. I realize that I cannot begin to know what it’s truly like to be black in America. But I do know that treating people with respect, creating a safe environment, and seeking to understand form the basis for trust, and that enables each of us to feel a sense of belonging. As parents of two sons, who live to ensure they have a bright future, the stories from moms and dads fearing for their sons are gut wrenching to my wife and me. For anyone feeling a heavy burden, our hearts go out to you.

We are a team at USAA, one that shares a common mission and one that promises to live by our core values of service, loyalty, honesty and integrity. We do many things so well, however we have not found a meaningful way to engage in the courageous conversations around race, gender and orientation bias. The absence of talking about our fears and concerns in real terms limits our ability to be our best. The hurt that people feel today is real, palpable and it won’t simply go away.

Words are meaningless without action. I believe that listening to diverse perspectives and summoning the courage to start crucial conversations is the first step in fostering inclusivity and creating environments where each of us feels like we belong. It is something I can do better, and something each of us can do to support each other.

USAA stands with the black community. We have been focused on creating a diverse and inclusive workplace for a long time, but there is more work to do. We remain committed to hiring diverse talent and will continue to encourage employee participation in our eight diversity and inclusion business groups and create forums that promote an engaged workforce. We will model crucial conversations, as demonstrated so well by my USAA teammates Renee Horne and Tony Wells. Both have shared actionable advice and profound insights on separate LinkedIn posts about this important subject.

For hundreds of years, men and women of all backgrounds have fought next to each other and died to ensure we live in a free country. Unfortunately, more than 150 years following the 14th Amendment, racial justice is still something we have to fight for, to ensure each of us can enjoy the hard-fought freedom that our Constitution promises. We can start locally by supporting and respecting each other, harnessing our diverse skills, backgrounds and beliefs, and channeling our collective energy to serve each other.

Thank you for joining the cause for positive change.