Mega companies such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Google, Walmart, Hilton Hotels, and Target have made recent advertisements and statements supporting Black Lives Matter and African-Americans. They have put signs up in their stores and statements on their websites. They’ve highlighted black movies on their platforms, and made donations to various organizations in support of racial equality and social justice. While I am happy to see this show of effort, I have to ask, “Why now and is it enough?”
Black Americans spending power has cemented the wealth of many companies throughout the decades. Some of these companies include Adidas, Nike, Sony, beer and liquor companies such as Hennessy and Colt 45. They target black society with over-priced, fake social status, and cheap and often unhealthy products. In return, we receive from them (when we are hired) lower wage jobs many of which cannot sustain our families, and products that reduce in value from the moment we purchase them. Many times, we are discriminated against as customers when we shop in their stores or vacation in their hotels.
I would like for these companies to keep their tweets, banners, free movies, and cheap products and instead make an effort to make the executive level of their companies available to more African-Americans. African-Americans deserve more executive and decision-making positions in these companies, and not just as the black spokesperson they bring to the front when a wrong is made public. If these companies really believe Black Lives Matter, then they need to begin with their hiring processes by placing African-Americans in key executive positions within their companies. Hiring and promoting has the greatest impact on the betterment of black society than kowtowing to keep or gain the black consumer dollars.