From the article: "On May 25, 2020, while the majority of Americans were confined to their homes in response to a global pandemic, George Floyd was killed at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. What followed was the resurgence of a social movement, Black Lives Matter, which demanded a reckoning with racial injustice which no individual, organization, or corporation could ignore. Corporations nationwide scrambled to make statements in response to a movement that demanded not only freedom from police brutality, but also the redress of structural racism. From fashion retailers to tech giants, came a flood of corporate promises to commit funds to ending police brutality, to increase workplace diversity, and to invest in Black communities. By June 9, 2020, corporations had pledged over $1.7 billion to racial justice. Google pledged $12 million to “organizations working to address racial inequities,” including “$25 million in Ad Grants to help organizations fighting racial injustice provide critical information.” Google also promised to increase black representation in the C-Suite. While Google listed only two of the organizations they planned to partner with ($1 million each to the Center for Policing Equality and the Equal Justice Initiative), Amazon enumerated the twelve organizations to whom they would distribute a total of $10 million. Other notable monetary promises included Bank of America, which pledged $1 billion over four years to “help local communities address economic and racial inequality accelerated by the global pandemic;” PayPal, which promised $530 million to address inequality through support for Black and minority-owned businesses; and PepsiCo, which funded a $400 million initiative to address inequality in hiring decisions, business relationships, and community support..."
By Ifeoma Ajunwa
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