SEATTLE ○ In May, Bray
resigned from his job as a
protestagainstthefiring
ofworkersandemployee
activistswho’dcriticized
warehouseconditionsas
Covid-19casesmounted,
a moveheestimatescost
him$1millioninsalaryand
unvestedshares.
Braywasthehighest-profilepersontospeak
upduringa waveofactivismatthetech
giant.In March,Amazonfiredtwowarehouse
workersin whattheysaidwasretaliationfor
speakingupaboutsafetyconditions.Two
morewarehouseworkerswerefiredin April,along with two activists at headquarters who’d
already been campaigning to get Amazon to
address its impact on climate change and were
now highlighting the workers’ plight. (Amazon
saidthatit changedmorethan 150 procedures
in itsfacilitiestoaccommodatesocialdistanc-
ingandthatdismissedworkersviolatedpolicy
orendangeredcolleagues.)
OnMay1, Brayquit,andtheexplanatory
blogposthepublishedmadeinternational
headlines.Hisdecisionwasunprecedented:
PeopleclosetoAmazon’sbraintrusttypically
haven’tbeenpubliclyreceptivetoaddress-
ingworkerunrest,andthecompanyramped
upa public-relationscampaigntostressthat
itswarehousesaresafe.Inthepost,Bray,
who’snowadvisingstartupsandpodcasting,
talkedaboutcurtailingAmazon’sinfluence:A
“combinationofantitrustandliving-wageand
worker-empowermentlegislation,rigorously
enforced,offersaclearpathforward.”
—MattDay○HeupendedMiddleEastern
geopoliticsinSeptember
whenhenormalizedrelations
withIsrael,thefirsttimethat’s
happenedintheregionsince
Jordan did it 26 years ago.The decision by the United Arab Emirates’
de facto leader could prove to be the most
consequential diplomatic breakthrough in the
Middle East in a generation. MBZ, as he’s widely
known, has pursued an aggressive foreign
policy, deploying military power (participating
in wars in Yemen and Libya) and engaging in
economic activity (investing in ports along the
Red Sea and the Horn of Africa) to allow his tiny
country to play an outsize role in regional and
international affairs. Although the agreement
with Israel has no timeline, it swiftly made MBZ
a pioneer: Bahrain and Sudan followed the UAE’s
example, and other Muslim states are said to
be contemplating it, eager to get their hands
on Israeli technology and military supplies and
add partners to an alliance against Iran—not to
mention scoring points with Washington. Their
enthusiasm could grow as the economic fruits
of diplomacy become evident; the agreement
between the UAE and Israel is expected to lead
to bilateral trade of $2 billion a year, eventually
rising to $6.5 billion, according to Israel’s finance
ministry. —Bobby GhoshYED AL NAHYAN
TE OF ABU DHABI
TIM BRAY
FORMER VICE
PRESIDENT,
AMAZON.COM INC.
DARRIN
WILLIAMS
CEO, SOUTHERN
BANCORP INC.ARKADELPHIA, ARK. ○ The banker was part of a successful
effort to add $10 billion for community development finance
institutions in the second round of Paycheck Protection
Program loans.
Williams, a former lawyer, rose from relative obscurity when he was tapped to be a member
of President Trump’s Great American Economic Revival initiative, which also included Jamie
Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., and David Solomon, chairman and CEO
of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Their conversations with Trump and Secretary of the Treasury
Steven Mnuchin ultimately led the Small Business Administration, which administered the
$350 billion program, to earmark the money for so-called CDFIs.
Southern Bancorp is one of the largest of about 1,100 such institutions, which the Clinton
administration chartered to invest in the poorest U.S. communities. This summer, Williams’s
bank wrote $111 million in PPP loans and gave away $125,000 to small businesses in the most
Covid-devastated places in the Mississippi Delta. In October, Bank of America Corp. Chairman
and CEO Brian Moynihan took a 5% stake in Southern Bancorp. Williams plans to use the
financial injection and the publicity surrounding the deal—as well as Big Business’s promise
to do more about racial inequality—to double the bank’s $1.6 billion in assets over the next
decade and whittle away at the region’s wealth gap. —Jeff Green63(^) I Langley’s fi rst job in L.A.^ was^ a
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