Updated: June 7, 2020
CEOs comments condemning racism and police brutality towards Black and Brown American citizens, with few noteworthy exceptions, appear little more than marketing campaigns
In the past couple of week, many American Fortune 500 CEOs have released statements both internally to their employees and externally to the public condemning George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, Amy Cooper’s weaponizing the police against a black man in NYC Central Park, Ahmaud Arbery’s ‘running while black’ shooting death in Georgia, and Breonna Taylor’s assassination inside her Louisville, KY, home.
A few Fortune 500 CEOs have gone a step further and commented on the unjust plight and persistent racial and economic inequities experienced Black people in America. One example is Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos. “‘Black lives matter’ doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter.” Jeff Bezos replied to an upset Amazon customer. “Black lives matter speaks to racism and the disproportionate risk that Black people face in our law enforcement and justice system.”
Randall Stephenson, AT&T Executive Chairman and CEO, has come out strongly imploring corporate CEOs to “speak up for racial justice” and to take deliberate action to combat racial economic inequality. He stated that that it is difficult to conduct business in an environment where “a large class of our people are perceiving and experiencing injustice.”
Additionally, Apple CEO Tim Cook strongly condemned the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. He acknowledged that racial injustice persists in America and that “…many people may want nothing more than a return to normalcy, or to a status quo that is only comfortable if we avert our gaze from injustice.” And, Amazon posted on Twitter a statement condemning the “…inequitable and brutal treatment of Black people in our country must stop.”
However, many of the hundreds of CEOs comments condemning racism, police brutality and social injustice towards Black and Brown American citizens appear little more than marketing campaigns written by their corporate marketing officers and legal counsels to position their organizations on the morally and politically correct side of these protests.
Only about 1 percent of CEOs in the S&P 500 Index are black, and last year (2019) 37 percent of corporate boards had no black members, according to Black Enterprise magazine.
The question to ask these suddenly enlightened CEOs is how have they led their respective corporations to right the many social and economic wrongs perpetrated on Black and Brown people over the past decades.
In areas where CEOs exercise immense influence and control over their respective organizations, we must ask these chief executives ‘what have you done lately’ for Black and Brown people. Are your corporate boards and senior executive leadership (C-suite) teams segregated (predominantly white male only) or are they inclusive and desegregated with people of color and women? Are your corporations engaged with and involved in improving the conditions for the citizens in the marginalized communities in which they’re headquartered? Finally, are you using your corporate lobbying influence in state and federal capitals to address racial and economic inequities?
Real societal change can occur only when people of color and women are included in the hard conversations about race, social justice and economic equality of opportunity, and they have more than a token voice at the table. Additionally, societal change is possible only when corporate executive leaders’ values and monetary incentives (salary, benefits, bonuses and stock options) are aligned with solving these long ignored wrongs.
“America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots.” Dr. Martin Lither King, Jr.
“We cannot lose sight of the fact that racism is tearing our communities apart. One lesson we should all learn is that silent carriers help spread racism,” IBM’s CEO Arvin Krishna commented in a message to employees. “This is why it falls on all of us to do away with the legacy of bias, prejudice and racism that has led to these unspeakable events. The tragedies that have occurred should strengthen our determination to do more.”
References:
- AMERICA’S FEW BLACK CEOS ARE SPEAKING OUT ON KILLINGS AND PROTESTS, https://adage.com/article/news/americas-few-black-ceos-are-speaking-out-killings-and-protests/2260381
- https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/wesley-lowery-george-floyd-minneapolis-black-lives/612391/