Corporations have always walked the fine line between profits and discriminatory practices. For many years, they were able to occasionally dip into the nefarious territory of racial discrimination without so much as a slap on the wrist. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter Protests, however, corporations are scrambling to denounce racism and promote diversity through ad campaigns and donations, eagerly pretending that they’ve never fallen prey to such prejudice before. These corporate practices have led many to wonder if their commitments to diversity run deeper than the surface, or if they’re solely for the consumer’s peace of mind. Let’s take a look at the top five Fortune 500 companies and see if their boasts of anti-racism are deeply ingrained policies or simply hypocrisy.
1. Walmart
The top Fortune 500 company, Walmart, reigns above all others as a modern marketplace for low-priced goods. Consumers can find all sorts of amenities in their stores, from electronics to groceries, all at unbeatable discounted rates. And when it comes to race-based philanthropy, their unbeatable streak seems to continue. For instance, in 2020, Walmart pledged to donate $500,000,000 for racial equity, with the first $14,300,000 being split among sixteen nonprofits in early February of 2021. They have also released extensive ad campaigns promoting diversity. In 2020, they launched a campaign titled “A Different Kind of Membership,” which displayed a variety of multiracial and ethnic families, in an attempt to show the diverse cultures that make up America. So, with such an impressive antiracist resume, one might wonder if Walmart’s internal policies and board room members are nearly as anti-discriminatory.
Surprisingly, this is not the case. Of Walmart’s twelve Board of Directors members, only two are people of color: Carla A. Harris, who is African American, and Cesar Conde, who is Cuban and Peruvian. All ten other members are caucasians, and it’s worth noting that nine of the total members are men. To say this is disappointing would be an understatement. In 2021, one might expect a major corporation, one that has advocated for diversity time and time again, to practice what it preaches. Now, some may argue that those on the Board were simply chosen for their merit, and that it would be unfair to select people to fit a racial quota. However, it’s clear from Walmart’s record that racism is a problem within their company itself, not just at the management level.
Take a look at one recent example: in June of 2020, Walmart finally announced that they would stop placing “multicultural hair care and beauty products'' in locked containers. That’s right, up till 2020, multicultural products would be locked away from consumers, presumably to prevent theft. This is insulting, to say the least. To assume that all people of a certain race are prone to thievery is to suggest that other races are more trustworthy, an antiquated idea that should be left in the dust so far into the 21st century. Overall, Walmart’s policies and executives speak for themselves: while philanthropy may be nice, it doesn’t hide the company's darker truths.
2. Amazon
Amazon. It’s the tech company that has dominated America, a consumer’s dream, where anything and everything a person could desire is just one click away. And like many major corporations, Amazon found itself concerned with racial equality during the Black Lives Matter protests in June of 2020. During this time, they donated $10,000,000 to charities which promote racial equality, such as the NAACP and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In addition, Amazon has a dozen affinity groups which intend to connect, retain, and improve various minority employees, like Latinos@Amazon or the Black Employee Network.
Unfortunately for Amazon, though, their reputation precedes them. Recently, they were hit with a discrimination suit from a black employee, Charlotte Newman, who stated that people of color at the company are paid less than their caucasian counterparts and given fewer promotions. According to her suit, Newman was placed in a position in the company a level below her credentials and required to do the work for the higher level position anyways. She spoke with other employees at the company and found that they, too, had been placed in jobs that did not match their experience. While the company states that the phenomenon Newman described was misrepresentative of the company’s practices, internal data from the company found that employees of color make 99 cents to the dollar made by caucasian employees. And though that difference may seem small, it's indicative of the wages earned by people of color in comparison to caucasians, showing that they may be hired to lower-paying roles. Furthermore, Amazon’s leadership is reflective of their poor commitment to diversity. In the group of senior executives who run the corporation, only one, Alicia Boler Davis, is black. Almost all other members of this team are white men, which in 2021, should be entirely unacceptable. Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder, suggested that the reason for this disparity was that the people he had placed in charge were people he’d had worked with for a very long time, and that he couldn’t simply add new members quickly. Nonetheless, these excuses don’t illustrate the corporation in the best light in terms of racial equity.
3. ExxonMobil
One of the country’s leading faces in the oil industry, ExxonMobil supplies much-needed gasoline to drivers everywhere. In addition, the company has its roots in the ventures of John T. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, once the largest oil-refining business in the world, so it's safe to say that Exxon has an image to maintain. As such, they decided to sponsor the Smithsonian Green Book traveling exhibition in 2019, detailing the history of the guidebook that gave African-American travelers insight into which businesses they could frequent without fear of discrimination. The Green Book has great significance to ExxonMobil, since Standard Oil’s Esso Gas Stations were the only major locale at which the book could be purchased. From this alone, it can be said that Exxon has been promoting racial diversity for a very long time. However, does that commitment to diversity apply to those within the company as well? The short answer is no. Out of Exxon’s 13 Board of Directors members, only 3 are people of color. While this seems slightly more progressive than the other companies listed (both Walmart and Amazon had two black members), it is nowhere near an adequate amount of diversity for a company that boasts about its history of anti-discriminatory practices. Exxon’s executives once again highlight the mentality held by many companies of putting on a pretense of diverse hiring but only giving caucasians important positions. Unfortunately, the case against Exxon just gets worse from here. In 2020, ExxonMobil was sued by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund for discrimination. They alleged that the company had rejected a man on DACA for being an immigrant, and that applicants to jobs at Exxon are required to have permanent work authorization which states that someone is allowed to live in the US indefinitely. For anyone’s who’s keeping track, that’s illegal, as well as blatantly discriminatory. For anyone who isn't, here’s the gist: The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 established that employees only need to show proof of ability to work in the United States--they don’t need to be a citizen to receive the benefits of employment. That act protects the rights of immigrants, something that America has stood for from the very beginning. But policies like Exxon’s, which prevent immigrants, even legal ones, from seeking occupation at the company, actively work against that cause. So, it's hardly surprising that the corporation would have such little diversity among the higher ups. Ultimately, ExxonMobil’s half hearted attempts at maintaining an anti-discriminatory image seems to be a shiny pretense unsupported by reality.
4. Apple
A pioneer in the tech industry, Apple has made its mark on homes nationwide, from their sleek Macbooks to their essential Iphones. And with such an important part to play in the lives of people everywhere, Apple has a major motivation to keep up with the diversification crusade that faces America these days. As a result, they recently launched the Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, designed to tackle education, economic, and justice system disparities. According to their website, Apple is working with colleges occupied by unprivileged students and donating to organizations which attempt to promote equality. While these new programs make Apple seem above all others in diversity, their actions suggest differently. Of Apple’s 17 major executives, only two are people of color. Additionally, their 8-member board of directors also contains only two people of color, and neither group contains African Americans. This seems to show clear discrimination, something that should be nonexistent in a company that supposedly places such a high emphasis on inclusivity. Furthermore, Apple seems to have a policy of avoiding claims of racism. A black employee at an Apple Store in Oregon sued the company in 2019 for maintaining a hostile environment. He states that he was repeatedly treated unfairly by customers as a result of his race, and was even shoved by a customer. However, when he tried to report this behavior to those in management, they told him that he was overreacting and that he should make the assumption that customers were only acting with “positive intent”. Let’s take a moment here to think about our personal connections to this. Have you ever been in a situation where you felt that someone was behaving in a distinctly different and uncomfortable way towards you, but been told that you were overthinking it? I have, and I’m sure many others have too. And from personal experience, I can say that when it happens, it makes you feel less important than those you accuse—- as if they matter more than you do. So to see a black employee treated like this by his superiors suggests an attitude of disdain toward minorities in Apple’s workforce, something that they’d like to say they’re against. All in all, it seems that Apple’s seemingly liberal surface hides a rotten, discriminatory core.
5. CVS Health
CVS is what one might call a universal constant: no matter where in America you may be, you’re bound to find one of their pharmacies right around the corner, waiting for you to peruse their aisles in search of candy, medicine, and household goods. And with this comfort comes a desire from consumers, a desire to see the company undertake measures to reflect the values of modern America. CVS Health has certainly risen to that challenge: in 2020, they committed themselves to investing $600,000,000 over the next five years in policies that will combat injustices toward the Black community and other minority groups. These policies, according to CVS, will be both legislative and company-based. One might wonder, what policies has CVS had that may warrant this special attention to racial inclusivity? The answer to that may lie in charges from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2018. That year, the federal bureau investigated CVS and found that their personality tests, which were used in hiring despite the warnings against such usage that many personality tests come with, were discriminatory toward minority groups. Apparently, these tests resulted in lower scores and thus negative impacts for some applicants as a result of their race. CVS claimed that they were ignorant of this discrepancy and consequently ended the use of these tests in the hiring process, but seeing as these tests were used for over eight years (2002-2010), one might be slightly hesitant to accept their explanation as valid. Nevertheless, let’s give CVS the benefit of doubt and proceed to analyze their executives. If, as they say, they were unaware of the discrimination posed by their personality tests to lower-level employees, then surely their upper-level employees are reflective of a much less discriminatory point of view. Sadly, this is not the case at all. Of the 12 executive officers listed by CVS on their website, only one is a person of color. Every other executive is caucasian, a trend echoed by all the other companies on this list. So, it’s safe to say that CVS has been, at best, negligent in their attempts to create a more equitable work environment. In conclusion, while CVS may be a store whose presence brings comfort to all, its treatment of minorities is anything but comforting.
It’s no secret that corporations operate on a for-profit basis. They’re not here to save the world or promote fair employment, they’re here to make as much money from their consumers as humanly possible. So, it really should not come as a surprise when we discover that while major companies like to make a show of supporting racial justice, soothing the virtuous rage of their patrons, they don’t put as much stock in those ideals as they seem to. This hypocrisy can and should be upsetting to consumers everywhere. We cannot make meaningful strides toward racial equality when we don’t hold our capitalist leaders, the backbones of our economy, to the same standards that we would hold ourselves. And when we accept insubstantial ad campaigns as fact and ignore the harsher realities faced by employees, we effectively choose to ignore the same racial injustice we intend to destroy. As political activist Angela Davis once said, “In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” And in this situation, being anti-racist means confronting these corporations and holding them to what they’ve promised. So to corporations everywhere: you can’t hide behind a facade of anti-discrimination while simultaneously contributing to the same discrimination you claim to combat. It’s time to practice what you preach.
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