By Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier
Yes, DEI, the root of all so-called reverse racism in America. Because for some folks in this nation, DEI is code for anything that gives the appearance of supporting Black people, communities, or businesses.
It’s not that Black folks thought the post-George-Floyd-murder racial reckoning would last forever. Our ancestors lived through Reconstruction, so we know better.
But back on June 12, 2020, just days after Floyd’s murder, Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon emoted in a blog post about how the company’s goal was “to help replace the structures of systemic racism, and build in their place frameworks of equity and justice that solidify our commitment to the belief that, without question, Black Lives Matter.”
McMillon pledged to examine every aspect of Walmart to ensure the company was prejudice-free. He waxed poetic about a conversation he had with a Black woman employee about racial microaggressions. He pledged $100 million to a Center for Racial Equity that would “address the root causes of gaps in outcomes experienced by Black and African American people in education, health, finance and criminal justice systems,” according to Walmart’s website.
Walmart, he vowed, was on a “journey in support of racial justice and equity.”
One thousand, six hundred twenty-eight days later, that journey is over.
The Center for Racial Equity? Closing. Racial equity training for employees? Not today, Satan. Using the phrase “DEI” in corporate communications? Axed.
Walmart now says it wants to foster “a sense of belonging.” Apparently, as journalist Judd Legum quipped on Bluesky, “Walmart has solved racism.”
Right-wing anti-DEI activists like Robby Starbuck are popping champagne, claiming they pressured the company into ditching its “woke” policies. Starbuck, a former music video director, regularly posts lines like “It’s a fact that DEI is antiwhite,” and “DEI IS racism and deserves to die,” on X.
In a lengthy post on the social media platform, Starbuck insinuated that his conversations with Walmart — the nation’s biggest, most influential retailer — led to this rollback, a move that will “send shockwaves throughout corporate America.”
“This is the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America,” Starbuck posted on X.
Walmart touts itself as Black America’s biggest private employer and has long been a retail giant in the Black community. A 2023 analysis by Collage Group identified Walmart as our favorite brand, due to the company’s investments “in Black enrichment, and taking a stance on social matters.”
But here’s the other side of the coin: research revealed that Walmart stores in Black and Latino neighborhoods consistently get worse reviews for service quality. Walmart’s been hit with multiple discrimination lawsuits. Remember that $17.5 million class-action lawsuit? Yeah, the 2009 one where Walmart settled claims that it discriminated against Black folks trying to get truck driving jobs? That was a thing.
Just two years ago, an Oregon jury ordered Walmart to pay $4.4 million to a Black man after a white Walmart employee racially profiled and harassed him in one of their stores.
A quick internet search nets plenty of other examples of people suing Walmart over shopping while Black experiences, Black employees suing for being repeatedly passed over for promotions, and Black employees suing because they were being called racial slurs in the workplace.
Let’s call Walmart’s abandoning DEI efforts what it is: a slap in the face to the Black folks who’ve kept their registers ringing for decades.
This isn’t just about Walmart, though. Across corporate America, anti-DEI crusaders are attacking anything and everything related to leveling the playing field for Black folks, the Latino community, women, and the LGBTQ+ community. And companies are nervous about Trump 2.0, as well as a Supreme Court that’s overtly hostile to anything that smacks of affirmative action.
But here’s the kicker: Black America is not powerless. Walmart, like every other company, runs on dollars. And Black dollars matter — a lot. If Black shoppers took their spending power elsewhere, the fallout for Walmart would be seismic.
Starbuck, though, doesn’t think Black folks have a choice.
“I’m happy to have secured these changes before Christmas when shoppers have very few large retail brands they can spend money with who aren’t pushing woke policies,” he gloated. Amazon and Target, he said, “should be very nervous that their top competitor dropped woke policies first” and should brace themselves for losses.
Which begs a simple question:
Should Black America keep shopping at Walmart when it seems Walmart might have forgotten who helps keep its lights on?
“I think America has figured out that if you dish out racism and bigotry subtly one drop at a time and not in a direct overt manner the Black community is OK with it,” Isaac Hayes III wrote on X about the situation. “Kneel on their necks and kill one of them they get mad. Dismantle systems that level the playing field for them and they just accept it and still continue to spend money with us.”
A company that caves to racist attacks coded as “anti-woke” does not respect Black America. It doesn’t deserve our loyalty. Because loyalty isn’t free — and $1.8 trillion in purchasing power can go a long way somewhere else.
This editorial was originally published in Word In Black.
