Corporations Have Ran PR Campaigns In Support of Black Lives Matter, But Maintain Police Ties and Records of Racial Discrimination Toward Workers
Nearly every major corporation has put out statements from their public relations team affirming the company supports black lives matter and is devoted to fighting racism, but most of these corporations have failed to address racism in their own workplaces amid complaints, reports, and lawsuits alleging racial discrimination and harassment.
Walmart
Walmart pledged $100 million to fight systemic racism.
Around 22 percent of Walmart workers are black. The company has lagged behind competitors in paying workers less than $15 an hour minimum wage, keeping half of their workforce in as part-time to avoid paying full-time benefits, and is vehemently anti-union
In 2009, Walmart settled a racist hiring discrimination lawsuit for $17.5 million. In 2019, Walmart warehouse workers filed complaints alleging racist hiring practices. In 2011, a black pharmacist claimed she was fired for criticizing corporate management for selling expired pharmaceuticals to poor, minority communities.
Customers have also reported facing racial discrimination at Walmart. In February 2020, two black women were wrongfully detained at a Texas Walmart store, and noted they were victims of racial profiling. A Kansas City councilwoman experienced racial harassment from a white worker at Walmart in December 2019. Two black customers reported being kicked out of a Walmart in April 2020 for wearing face masks during the pandemic. Dozens of racist hate fueled incidents have been reported at Walmart stores.
Walmart has also faced criticism for locking up black beauty products in glass cabinets, forcing black customers to wait for an associate to unlock it.
Verizon
Verizon has put out several statements and held a panel discussion with Verizon CEO on race, equality, and justice, but just months ago had ignored and refused to take action on various cases of racism within their own workplaces.
In 2019, Verizon faced pressure to reinstate a worker in Ohio who was fired over racial discrimination. https://www.dispatch.com/news/20190718/ex-employee-says-verizon-wireless-tolerated-racist-behavior-at-lancaster-store
In February 2019, a Verizon worker found a noose on her desk, part of several years of racist harassment she had frequently reported, yet no action was ever taken to support her. In a Texas call center in 2019, black workers at Verizon complained about a white manager mocking black workers by wearing an afro wig during work hours, and two black workers were wrongfully accused of stealing from the cafeteria.
https://shadowproof.com/2019/09/05/verizon-workers-eeoc-complaints-racist-workplace-culture/
Amazon
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos released a response to an email affirming support for the black lives matter movement, and the Amazon website banner was changed to a support slogan for black lives matter.
The public statements in support of black lives matter are contradictory to Amazon’s ties to police around the US and its treatment of black workers at Amazon warehouses.
MIT researchers found Amazon’s facial recognition software sold to law enforcement agencies is racially biased. Amazon’s doorbell camera firm, Ring, has partnered with hundreds of police departments around the US in support of police surveillance in communities, and executives and expressed hopes of linking it with Amazon’s facial recognition software. Amazon’s charity arm, Amazon Smile, helps generate donations for several police foundations around the US.
In May 2020, a black Amazon warehouse worker in Phoenix, Arizona found a noose at their workstation. Her complaint was initially dismissed by managers and then she was sent home without pay.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon fired four black warehouse workers who were organizing and expressing concerns over safety protections and working conditions; Chris Smalls and Gerald Bryson in Staten Island, New York, Courtney Bowden in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, John Hopkins in San Leandro, California, and Bashir Mohamed in Shakopee, Minnesota.
Target
Target pledged $10 million to social justice causes in support for black communities in response to the George Floyd protests.
Target settled a lawsuit alleging the company discriminated against black and latino job applicants for $3.7 million in 2018. Three years earlier, Target paid $2.8 million to resolve discrimination complaints with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A Target worker in Tennessee was fired in 2018 for placing racist cards in pampers diapers. Another Target worker in Minnesota admitted to racially profiling a black customer in February 2018 who was buying headphones. In May 2018, a black customer filed a lawsuit after she was forced to strip by a male employee at Target who falsely claimed she was stealing a bathing suit.
The company was publicly called out in 2018 by customers for placing anti-theft devices on only darker shades of cosmetics. A black customer at a Target store in Texas filed a discrimination lawsuit in February 2018 for wrongly being accused of theft while shopping.
Target also has a long relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, where the company’s headquarters are located. In 2004, Target donated $300,000 to install CCTV throughout downtown Minneapolis, and created a ‘SafeZone’ program to aid police with surveillance logistics, with Target establishing similar programs in more than 20 cities around the US. Target also operates two forensic labs, one in Minneapolis and another in Las Vegas, which provide pro bono assistance to law enforcement agencies.
McDonald’s
Black workers represent around 17 percent of all workers in the fast food industry. Corporate fast food chains pay poverty wages, often keep workers in part-time status to avoid paying any benefits, and do not provide paid sick leave or vacation. The fast food workforce
Fast food corporations like McDonald’s have released videos and PR statements affirming support for Black Lives Matter and affirming they are anti-racist organizations, while their treatment of Black workers says otherwise.
From McDonald’s executives who recently filed lawsuits accusing the company of racial discrimination to multiple instances of racist treatment of workers by managers at McDonald’s franchises, McDonald’s mistreatment of Black workers has continued throughout the pandemic.
“Black workers have been fighting injustice at McDonald’s for years, but this pandemic has made it a matter of life and death,” said Ieshia Townsend, a striking McDonald’s worker in Chicago, in a press release from Fight for $15. “McDonald’s can’t say it’s against racism when its corporate policies put our lives at risk and force hundreds of thousands of Black and brown workers to live in poverty. If Black lives matter at McDonald’s, then listen to our demands: we need $15 and a union, and we need to be safe at work.”