As Corporations Grapple With Commitments to Racial Justice, Authenticity Rules
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companies are struggling with their responses to mass protests for racial justice. nike’s initial effort, for example, rang hollow with many. pio3/shutterstock
Corporate platitudes don’t bring about change, nor do they satisfy a public that’s increasingly rejecting the status quo. Some corporations discovered that the hard way, as their responses to a surging racial justice movement were hit with cold, hard questions of authenticity.
A video Nike posted urging its communities to reflect on racial disparities, “For Once, Don’t Do It,” quickly drew tens of thousands of views across social media—and just as quickly drew criticism for ringing hollow. “Not one black person on your executive leadership team,” tweeted advertising consultant Cindy Gallop, “for a company that’s made billions out of black sports people and consumers. Change THAT.”
Financial commitments alone won’t secure a company’s place on the right side of history, either. When Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan announced a $1 billion commitment to building economic opportunity over the next few years, social media and journalists alike fired back on several points, including the company’s contributions to Sen. Tom Cotton, who advocates for a military crackdown against peaceful protesters. “Where were all these companies with racial inequality policies prior to this tragedy?” responded one Twitter user. “If it smells, walks and talks like a PR stunt, it usually is.”
According to the Financial Times, corporations have already responded to the current movement by committing more than $450 million in social and racial justice initiatives. Still, many are clearly struggling with tone and intent, and philanthropy and messaging alone can’t fix this problem. Can these corporate responses take root in more inclusive and authentic ways? Here’s how some companies are trying.
Diversifying Decision-making
Most major corporations have diversity teams and officers, or affinity networks, that give representation to people of color within the company and work to advance corporate policies on things like procurement, hiring practices, and building talent pipelines. A number of corporations have correctly involved these voices in their current decision-making around racial justice.
Black employees make up 26.5% of Amazon’s workforce, and just over 8% of its managers. The company’s $10 million in racial justice commitments were made “hand-in-hand” with its Black Employee Network (BEN), which chose to support organizations like the ACLU Foundation, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and Year Up.
Facebook, which faces continual blowback over its platforms being used to spread division, committed $10 million to groups “working on racial justice.” Decision-making will involve both employees and civil rights advisors, who are working to identify local and national partners that can “most effectively use this right now.”
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation is telling its more than 340,000 Black employees that it hears their “intense sense of pain, fatigue and frustration” by establishing a new $100 million center on racial equity that aspires to be a hub for addressing systemic racism “head-on” and accelerating change. Employees are in at the ground level, as four dedicated internal teams tackle issues of education, criminal justice, healthcare and business practices like minority supplier development.
Starting Conversations
Black Out Tuesday, an initiative started by two black music executives to spark productive conversations about race, helped an industry that profits from black talent coalesce around the fight for racial justice in new ways.
Though facing its own share of blowback, large and small music companies did answer the call. Recording Academy committed $1 million to Color of Change, and to creating a series of live and digital events to elevate black voices. Indie hip-hop label 10K Projects committed to investing a half-million dollars to charities fighting racism over the next five years through its new charitable arm, 10K Together.
Sony Music Group joined in the disruption of business by hosting a day of town halls and conversations with black leaders, artists and activists—then backed that up by launching a $100 million fund to support social justice and anti-racist initiatives.
In an open letter shared the day before, Sony/ATV CEO Jon Platt, the only black leader of a major music company, said that an industry “anchored at the heart of black culture had an unrivaled role and responsibility to help lead society out of crisis and onto the path of true justice and equality.” Urging concrete change, Platt said, “Timely action must follow the industry’s lyrics. Otherwise, words are ultimately empty.”
Levi Strauss & Co. prioritized conversations with black employees on everything from their experiences at work to their experiences as citizens, making them a central part of their advocacy. Calling on employees to channel “emotions into action” by planning and organizing, President and CEO Chip Bergh announced expanded partnerships through two grants: $100,000 to Live Free, and $100,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union to support its work on criminal and racial justice reform.
Connecting With Communities
Other corporations are taking steps to get employees out of the ivory tower to support communities of color in hard-hit areas. Target backed up its $10 million commitment to new and “longstanding” partners like the National Urban League and the African American Leadership Forum with 10,000 hours of pro bono consulting services to help black- and POC-owned small businesses in the Twin Cities rebuild. And Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group is donating $5 million and 25,000 employee volunteer hours to businesses in Minneapolis and St. Paul to restore operations after weeks of protests.
Modeling Authenticity
Serious responses to deeply rooted, systemic racism take time and thought. Companies taking honest stock of where they are—and what they don’t know—aren’t showing signs of weakness, they’re modeling best practices.
When announcing the steps Visa, Inc. is taking, Chairman and CEO Al Kelly acknowledged that the firm hadn’t made enough progress, and that Visa is “on a journey to be inclusive and diverse.” Its five-point call to action included establishing a $10 million Visa Black Scholars and Jobs Program that will assist black students with scholarships, and will even guarantee graduates full-time jobs at the company. Visa is also doubling June matches on employee donations to organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the ACLU Foundation and the National Urban League. The company is starting conversations through a community meeting led by its chief human resources and diversity officers, and is holding wider open forums on racial equity and inclusion.
Will Companies Really Listen?
After taking time to reflect, Nike responded to the video backlash by laying out a plan to invest $40 million over the next four years in organizations that “put social justice, education and addressing racial inequality at the center of their work,” including PeacePlayers and the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
And Bank of America is inviting others to join its journey as the $25 million founding partner of the Smithsonian’s new “Race, Community and Our Shared Future” initiative, which will explore how Americans currently understand, experience and confront race and its impact on shaping the nation’s future.
In concert with a series of virtual town halls, the platform is intended to create conversations with national and global civil rights and social justice leaders to drive meaningful policy corrections, work that Smithsonian secretary Lonnie Bunch says will unite us, “bring healing and hope for our future.”
At the end of the day, most companies engage in business practices that put some kind of distance between word and deed, and will be criticized for that until policies change. But in recent weeks, they seem to have begun listening.
