Are Companies Jumping on the Bandwagon in the Fight Against Police Brutality and White Supremacy?

This year, in the wake of the Armaud Arbery and George Floyd murders, many companies released statements in their fight against racism. Unfortunately, many of these companies have for too long been complicit or active participants in systemic racism. One industry, Technology, has been highly active in making public statements on social media. The Plug, a publication focused on the Black Tech Community, compiled a spreadsheet tracking companies that released statements and whether those companies shared diversity data, made material donations, or established diversity, equity, and inclusion principles. It highlights the hypocrisy of saying these statements—because they’re easy—and doing the necessary work to make things more equitable.

Studies show a consistent average of 3-4% Black employment at tech companies in the US, which is well below the 13% Black population. An argument often heard in the Tech Community is that it is hard to find Black talent. Sound familiar? This statement is often said based on the premise that all technical positions need technical education and training. This premise is wrong because all jobs inside a corporation do not require technical skills. You have many positions such as sales, marketing, law, and human resources that make up a company. Still, corporations fill these positions with people who look like the founders and friends of friends.

To our surprise, you may recall when the former president said, during the eulogy of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor killed by the system of white supremacy in Charleston. He said, “Maybe we now realize the way racial bias can infect us even when we don’t realize it so that we’re guarding against not just racial slurs, but we’re also guarding against the subtle impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview but not Jamal.” For anyone with real work experience, these actions are not just subtle, but blatant.

Many of these companies are showing support by making donations to organizations that fight “systemic racism.” The real issue to resolving internal issues in our community is economic. The issues that got us into this problem is economic! The companies would do right by the African-American community if they invest in start-ups and create an eco-system for us to get the support we need to be successful. This starts by listening instead of talking and dictating.

Numbers show that by pumping money into the Black community, you have the most upside to get a return on that money and increase the American economy’s overall health. The Tech Community also needs to hire more Black faces at institutional investment firms and venture capital companies in positions that deal directly with business development and create value by leveraging Black entrepreneurship. 

We will follow up on the promises made by these companies to see if they are on track to achieving what they promised to do. I suspect we will find many coming up short.