Wayne Allyn Root offbase about MGM’s Jim Murren

Wayne Allyn Root has produced yet another paranoid diatribe against what he perceives to be the “radical left” (“MGM’s Murren ties company to radical leftist groups,” Thursday Review-Journal). This time, he trumpets his view that Jim Murren has crossed a line by helping MGM Resorts International employees to fund “extreme and radical organizations.” Mr. Root claims that Mr. Murren’s new initiative will erode employee trust, offend customers and put shareholders in a terrible position.

Au contraire, Mr. Root. For I am one of those employees, and this new plan only strengthens my position as a citizen. My financial voice has effectively been doubled in the fight against hate, prejudice and racial inequality. I can now do more to denounce the vitriol and mischaracterizations that spew from people like you, from hate groups and even from our morally equivalent president. And the beautiful aspect is that I choose which organization to donate to should I choose to donate. (So American-like).

I have been a resident of Las Vegas for 60-plus years and for 40 of those I have worked in the hotel business. I have witnessed my home transform from the “Mississippi of the West” to a diverse cosmopolitan city. Every day I go to work I walk into a heterogeneous mix of fellow employees with every language, culture and race represented. Among all this diversity there is commonality. We all desire a community that is free from hate and social injustice, and the new policy the company is instituting will allow all employees to participate in shaping that community. We will be better able to call out hate.

Mr. Root, it is time for you to get out of the way. The train to the future has left the station and is moving forward via bridges that we build together, not by erecting barricades that impede. Using the current vernacular, you might say the company I work for is “woke” and it won’t be denied.

As for the customers, offense will not be taken. The vast majority of people, when presented the choice, will go with the socially responsible company. As for the shareholders, it is a matter of simple economics: A better world makes for better business. As for Jim Murren, thank you.