The America I'm Celebrating This Week

Today, as I look back at a month of Pride and look ahead to July 4th on Thursday, I’m feeling a lot of things all at once.

I’m so happy to see how much progress we’ve made as a society. Although the headlines are often bad, the decade-over-decade trend lines continue to move us toward a better world. That came to life for me this week when my chief of staff David told me that growing up as a gay boy in the South, he assumed he’d never be able to get married or have the same kind of relationship his parents had. Then, in 2015, we saw #lovewin at the Supreme Court and the impossible became possible for LGBTQ+ people across the country. We’re still a long way from true equality, but David told me that that one moment changed how he thought about his entire future.

I’m inspired by all the amazing victories the LGBTQ+ movement has won in the 50 years since Stonewall. The courageous uprising that started that night in New York’s Greenwich Village changed the lives — and in many cases, saved the lives — of countless millions of Americans and people around the world. Real estate has a proud tradition of being more welcoming than other industries to our gay, trans, bi, lesbian, queer, and non-binary brothers and sisters. That history, though, gives us an even greater responsibility to live up to our values of diversity and inclusion going forward. And you don’t have to look far to see that there is always more work to be done.

I’m curious — and a little nervous — about how our society today will look to people 50 years from now. What are we living through that are our kids going to look back on and say, “Are you serious? You allowed for that?” When I think about that question, one big answer comes to mind this week: the separation of families at our border.

I’m heartbroken by how our country is taking immigrant children away from their parents and subjecting them to terrible, inhumane conditions. I’ve read about filthy, overcrowded and cold detention centers where young kids have to sleep on cement floors under lights that are left on 24 hours a day. Where 8-year-olds are trying to take care of 3-year-olds they’ve never met because there’s no one else to do it. Where there’s not enough toothpaste, soap, diapers, medical care, or showers. Just imagine for one moment, if that 3 year old was your child or a relative. 

I’m outraged that this is happening to kids in our country — kids who are the same age as my daughters and my son. America is a nation of immigrants and at so many times in our history, we have been a beacon of freedom and opportunity to the rest of the world. I am the son of an immigrant, married to the daughter of an immigrant, raising three brown-skinned children. If my mother hadn’t been able to immigrate with her parents from Israel in the years after the Holocaust, I wouldn’t exist and neither would Compass. All of this is personal for me.

Our diversity as a company and a nation doesn’t just give us strength — it’s who we are. We are committed to making a difference in people’s lives. We’re on a mission to help everyone find their place in the world — and it just breaks my heart to see our country do such horrible things to people who are risking everything to find opportunity and safety for their families.

I know there are a lot of different points of view on a huge and complicated topic like immigration and the ways we all respond to moments like this are personal. But sometimes, the moral clarity of the situation shines through in a way we can all recognize. And regardless of how you feel about immigration, I hope as a community we can agree on how our country should treat children. 

One thing that fills me with hope and gratitude in the middle of this crisis is that Compass agents and employees are already springing into action to help these children at the border.  I’ll share two examples:

• Dallas agent Courtney Tauriac volunteered at a humanitarian respite center run by Catholic Charities. As a mom, she couldn’t imagine the emotional trauma of having your child separated from you after making a difficult journey to escape extreme poverty and gangs and in search of a better life. She worked with two other moms to raise over $5,000 to purchase clothing, food and necessities for immigrant families and spent a weekend at the center in McAllen, Texas offering showers, warm meals, clean clothing, and access to an on-site doctor to hundreds of recent immigrants. But Courtney said that the most important thing they did was to give hugs to all of the tired and scared children, mothers, and fathers coming through to let them know that they were loved and respected as human beings.
• New York agent Ellen Klein told me that she’s compelled to help the young children at the border because while most of us have had tragedies and struggles in our lives, we’ve been able to use our voices to ask for help along the way — but these children have no voice. She is supporting a Save the Children project through Compass Cares that is running child-friendly spaces and play areas at transit centers in New Mexico for children once they leave detention facilities.

Please feel free to support either of these efforts, or any other program you find. Here’s a link to a New York Times article about a variety of other ways to help, as well.

The poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty says: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” That’s the America that welcomed my mom and Benís’ mom and our families. That’s the America that inspires the world. That’s the America that I’ll be celebrating this 4th of July. I am so grateful to everyone in the Compass community who is working to uphold the values that make our country so special and to help those in need. Thank you, and happy 4th of July!

Best,

Robert