The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in late May reignited a
surge of racial justice protests and activism across the country, and saw major
brands taking strong
positions
in support of the Black Lives Matter
movement.
However, in this day and age, the textbook response — release a public
statement, commit to donating money, or promising to take “diversity” seriously
— is no longer enough.
“We’re starting to see a growing sense of responsibility,” says Sandy Skees,
EVP/Global Lead of the Innovation & Impact Practice at Porter Novelli, and
Chair of the Advisory Board at Sustainable Brands™. “This moment of racial
and social equity reckoning has brought that home to corporations in a way that
we haven’t seen before.”
This was one of the main themes during the two-day Sustainable Brands 2020 Just
Brands
virtual conference this week — which brought together business, racial justice
and social good leaders for a series of frank discussions on what equity really
means in 2020.
Dolita Cathcart
OK, Now What?: Navigating Corporate Sustainability After the US Presidential Election
Join us for a free webinar on Monday, December 9, at 1pm ET as Andrew Winston and leaders from the American Sustainable Business Council, Democracy Forward, ECOS and Guardian US share insights into how the shifting political and cultural environment may redefine the responsibilities and opportunities for companies committed to sustainability.
One of the first speakers was Dolita Cathcart, an Associate Professor of
History at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, who schooled attendees on
the broader context of racial injustice in the US, from the advent of slavery
back in 1619.
“Institutional racism permeates every aspect of our culture. The primary victims
of racial capitalism are people of color, but white America suffers collateral
damage from these policies, too,” Cathcart said, noting how the COVID-19
pandemic — which initially affected communities of color more than
whites
— has, partially due to racist policies, become a national crisis.
Central to this was the understanding and need for many major brands and
corporations — nearly all of whom were founded by white men and have been
supported by white
capital,
via financial institutions or laws that discriminated against communities of
color
— to acknowledge their role in perpetuating racial capitalism.
Clockwise from top left: Anthea Kelsick, Philip McKenzie, Etienne White, Erin McClarty
“Businesses use systems that were designed at a time when I couldn’t work for
them ... we build off of these legacies, without thinking of the purposes for
which those systems were designed,” said Erin
McClarty, a social change architect and attorney
who works with businesses and other organizations to design programs for real
social
impact.
Many participants spoke about how shifting cultures meant working from within,
to understand how organizations perpetuated — either indirectly or directly —
racism and inequity, and also how they often benefit from an unequal system. For
example, how are they making money, and is that money perpetuating generational
inequity?
Clockwise from top left: Bruce Reynolds, Jordan Howard, Nwamaka Agbo, Nicole Clifton
“Be clear about how companies are making profits, and if those profits are
closing the racial and gender gap,” asserted Nwamaka
Agbo, a restorative economics consultant. “Are
you giving back to social justice organizations at the frontline? Be explicit
about who you are as a company.”
For brands, this means as much of an internal focus as external, as many of the
key changes require staff, leadership and management to understand the deeper
issues at play.
For example, UPS has been having
internal conversations and focus groups to increase discussion around sensitive
topics. They were started after realizing how hesitant workers, particularly
workers of color at lower levels of the massive company, were to speak up about
their experiences.
As Nicole Clifton, VP of Global Public Affairs at UPS, explained: “Our
leaders had difficulty having these hard conversations about race and painful
topics at work. We thought it was important to start having these focus groups,
so that people could talk about what was on their mind and share these
experiences.”
Clockwise from top left: Jessica Appelgren, Gwen Migita, Jill Houghton, Sindy Benavides
Impossible Foods has always prided itself as being a mission-driven
organization, but both the pandemic and the racial justice protests made the
company realize that it needed to broaden its definition and scope of “food
system sustainability.”
“Our environmental
mission
has been our sole driving force, but now we have taken a step back and realized
that we cannot make the food system sustainable without addressing racism,” said
Jessica Appelgren, Impossible’s VP of Communications.
For example: Diversity has been a buzzword for years, and has seen numerous
companies
promise to
increase the number of people of color and women in their workforce in recent
years. But nearly all have failed to meet their
goals — and the problem is
not lack of talent, but lack of cultural change within the company.
“There is no pipeline problem. There is more than enough talent to fill these
organizations with diverse candidates,” said Philip McKenzie, a cultural
anthropologist & founder of InfluencerCon — a
global content platform that identifies and supports influencer culture
globally. “There’s an unwillingness to change the structures to incorporate
those people and identify those candidates.”
A key theme throughout Just Brands day one: What businesses have done so far
should be seen as just the start. It’s the actions they take going forward that
will define whether they are truly willing to address the legacy of systemic
racism and inequity.
“Million-dollar donations, making a statement, investing [are] important first
steps, but those are just first steps,” said Anthea Kelsick, Co-CEO for
B Lab US & Canada. “Systemic racism will not be solved by these types of
responses; we cannot dismantle a system centuries in the making by taking just a
few steps.”
McClarty framed the DEI conversation in practical terms that all organizations
can learn from:
“Diversity is a state, inclusion is an act — the end is equity. Center equity in the conversation, and use diversity and inclusion as a means of getting to equity.”
Get the latest insights, trends, and innovations to help position yourself at the forefront of sustainable business leadership—delivered straight to your inbox.
Media, Campaign and Research Consultant
Nithin is a freelance writer who focuses on global economic, and environmental issues with an aim at building channels of communication and collaboration around common challenges.
Published Aug 20, 2020 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST