The fight to save DEI now comes to Wall Street

Diversity, equity and inclusion have faced its greatest threats to date since Donald Trump promised a “society which is dynamic and based on merit” in its inauguration in January. Throughout the city, in the church that organized the funeral of Frederick Douglass and Rosa Parks, members of the National Action Network and I made a wish to fight for the billions of dollars who promised us after our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents could not even jump to catch the brass ring.

We promised that day to walk at Wall Street and continue the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the last months of his life, when he directed boycotts across the country of companies that were happy to take black dollars but refused to put them back in us. This is why we will direct thousands of people on Broadway today, African leather at the heart of the financial district, to remind American companies that the bill has come.

If Wall Street wants to listen to Donald Trump’s social messages of truth, they will certainly have to face when we go to Broadway. We will climb on the ground once crossed by slaves, which over 300 years ago were sold along Wall St. to Water St. We cross a neighborhood where, barely 150 years ago, bank houses benefiting strongly from the southern plantations fed by the work of the slaves. We will pass the leaders who will continue to compete for the $ 1.7 billion that we will hold.

The more time we go without serving as a check for Donald Trump, the more he will simply abuse his office. I warned as much this Sunday, during a sermon at Howard University that the National Guard patrolled in the streets of Washington, while Trump continues to threaten cities led by blacks with low crime rates.

Wall Street’s walking will send a message to the thousands of companies that have promised $ 340 billion for Dei programs during the 2 and a half years immediately after the murder of George Floyd. They promised to do better, to invest in programs that put black Americans in the Cisses C and some of their income on the street. We have seen clear programs to do more business with black suppliers, set up scholarship programs and put an end to tacit segregation but often felt in American companies.

Flash forward today, when many of these companies have clearly indicated that they simply followed the winds. Even before Trump hung on the Bible in January, they started to return to these promises for fear of the president. He intimidated companies to align with their program. His FCC recently forced the promise of not starting a DEI program as part of a merger of $ 8 billion. Its administration is locked in a legal battle on the attempts to hold school funds with Dei programs.

American companies, which have always been guided by what is good for business and where the market goes, must remember the commercial value they saw in Dei five years ago. The purchasing power of black Americans should reach $ 1.7 billion by 2030, which, for the context, is targeted GDP for Saudi Arabia by the end of the decade. Black women have been the main group of entrepreneurs who launched new businesses from the pandemic. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase whom I met on Dei and other questions, said that these policies were good for business.

Those who supported themselves with black America saw these advantages while other Kowtow put pressure on Trump, Bill Ackman and the anti-dei crusaders. Costco shareholders have massively killed an offer to destroy its dei efforts from its governance, with leaders attached to the advantages of these investments. Black America was in turn stood with them and the company prospered.

And we do it with a large coalition with greater threat to the loss of Dei. Latin American organizations, organized work and the clergy joined this walk to stand alongside this coalition because they recognize the issues. If we sit down on our hands while American companies are reinding on its promises to black and brown America, what prevents them from flowing to the rights of the Union for which A. Phillip Randolph fought?

Simply nothing.

If they do not want to be with black America, we will make sure that their net profit is in red.

Sharpton is founder and president of the National Action Network.