Racial Justice

In May 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police for the alleged crime of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Civil society erupted in sustained protest. By summer, corporations were making public statements of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Public statements of support are easy. Ensuring that people of color are hired, paid, promoted, and retained equitably is less so.

We launched our Racial Justice Initiative to monitor these corporate responses and to make sure those statements translated to concrete actions that truly promote equity. With a 30+ year track record of success in holding corporations accountable, this was the contribution we could make to the movement.

Ending corporate complicity in systemic racism starts with knowing where we are today. We built a Racial Justice Scorecard, which now grades the 1,000 largest public companies in the U.S. on 27 key performance indicators specific to racial justice and environmental racism. That Scorecard complements our Workplace Diversity Scorecard, ranking the same 1,000 companies on 34 KPIs specific to workplace equity, assessing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) disclosures including detailed hiring, retention, and promotion rates by gender, race, and ethnicity.

We’re also engaging some of these companies as shareholders. Take a look to see some of the results.