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Wal-Mart Does Not Want Your Nigger Money; They Just Can’t Say It
‘Too Big To Boycott’ Has Altered The Dynamics of Race and Corporate Citizenship
This piece is a reality check for my business-minded, growth-oriented and socially-engaged brothers and sisters: Wal-Mart has officially flipped from friend to foe. And before you get started, I hear you: a corporation can only be a faux friend at best. But still, that was more advantageous than having them as an open adversary to our collective interests.
Wal-Mart’s anti-DEI position and their public announcement of that position right after this election was a clear rejection of Black folks; especially those who are well-positioned, well-credentialed, and well-prepared to compete for prized opportunities. To satisfy their reading of the political landscape, they intend to freeze us out. Full-stop. And they are betting they can do so without paying any price beyond what they would consider the normal cost of doing business. We need to confront and address the concrete reality that they could be right.
In the old days, in the fifties and sixties, we would have organized a boycott against Wal-Mart and all of its subsidiaries for such a public rebuke. And it would have had a real chance of succeeding at turning the tide. But the world has changed…
