[ [link removed] ]An image of a damaged package with the Amazon logo upside down so it
looks like a frown. The text reads "This is not what our communities
ordered." The Color Of Change logo is in the top right.

John, 

Black union organizers made history at Amazon! Due to the leadership of
Christian Smalls and Derrick Palmer, and with guidance from the Black
Amazon workers who tried unionizing the Bessemer warehouse last year, the
Staten Island warehouse became the first unionized Amazon warehouse in the
U.S.^1 This victory was a necessary step toward protecting Black workers,
given the skyrocketing injury rates of Amazon warehouse employees and the
lack of safety measures that led to the deaths of six workers in December
2021.^2,3 When Facebook harmed Black people, we forced it to undergo a
civil rights audit, disclose the results, and publish their progress. Now
we need to push Amazon to do the same and undergo a FULL racial equity
audit, which must include an analysis of products, policies, workforce
diversity, and existing procedures for handling discrimination. This
increased transparency is key to addressing and eliminating discrimination
from their company and their products.

[ [link removed] ]DEMAND AMAZON DOES RIGHT BY ITS BLACK WORKERS

“Thug.” “Not smart or articulate.” “Too direct.” “Can intimidate people.”
Between Amazon’s racist smear campaign against Christian Smalls during the
unionization fight, and failure to protect a Black woman worker from
racist comments and assault, Amazon has been long overdue for a
comprehensive racial equity audit.^4,5 “Amazon is really good at things it
wants to be good at,” said former Amazon former diversity and inclusion
manager Chanin Kelly-Rae.^6 Right now, it does not seem like Amazon wants
to be good at planning a racial equity audit. Following mounting pressure
from Color Of Change and shareholders to undergo a full, independent
racial equity audit, Amazon announced an extremely limited audit that
fails to examine the vast majority of the company’s discriminatory
impact.^7 This audit would not cover any of the following:

* Black corporate workers, who must contend with a toxic work
environment, lower pay, and limitations to their professional
advancement at Amazon^8,9
* Black-owned small businesses that are undercut and driven out of
business by Amazon^10
* Black communities exploited by Amazon warehouses^11
* Amazon’s discriminatory technology, such as Ring doorbells and
algorithms, and relationships with law enforcement that
disproportionately harm Black communities^12,13

[ [link removed] ]TELL AMAZON THAT IT SHOULD DO ITS RACIAL EQUITY AUDIT RIGHT

Amazon has an opportunity to do right by its Black workers, but it seems
more interested in doing the bare minimum. This is not accountability;
this is a smokescreen, and it is unacceptable. The racial equity audit
should cover the full scope of harms from the company, including products,
executive decision-making, law enforcement contracts, the impact of its
warehouses on Black communities, and the full framework from Color Of
Change’s Beyond The Statement: Tech.^14 Anything less than that is a
sham. 

[ [link removed] ]AMAZON, CONDUCT A FULL RACIAL EQUITY AUDIT

Until justice is real, 
—Jade Magnus Ogunnaike

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References: 

 1. Jodi Kantor and Karen Weise, “How Two Best Friends Beat Amazon,” New
York Times, April 14, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 2. “The Injury Machine: How Amazon’s Production System Hurts Workers,”
Strategic Organizing Center, April 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 3. Kim Lyons and Justine Calma, “How Amazon Warehouse Policies Put
Workers At Risk,” The Verge, December 15, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 4. Paul Blest, “Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse
organizer: ‘He’s not smart or articulate’,” Vice, April 2, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 5. Jason Del Rey, “A Black Amazon manager is suing company executives in
a discrimination and sexual harassment and assault case,” Recode,
March 1, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 6. Jason Del Rey, “Bias, Disrespect, and Demotions: Black employees say
Amazon has a race problem,” Vox, February 26, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 7. Saijel Kishan, “Amazon to Undergo Racial Audit, Led by Former AG
Lynch,” Bloomberg, April 18, 2022,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
 8. [ [link removed] ][link removed]
 9. Ibid.
10. Stacy Mitchell and Ron Knox, “Fact Sheet: How Amazon Exploits and
Undermines Small Businesses, and Why Breaking It Up Would Revive
American Entrepreneurship,” Institute for Local Self-Reliance, June
16, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
11. Kaveh Waddell, “When Amazon Expands, These Communities Pay the Price,”
Consumer Reports, December 9, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
12. Sam Biddle, “Amazon ‘stands in solidarity’ against police racism while
selling racist tech to police,” The Intercept, June 3, 2020,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
13. Kim Lyons, “Amazon’s Ring now reportedly partners with more than 2,000
US police and fire departments,” The Verge, January 31, 2021,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]
14. “Tech Framework,” Beyond the Statement,
[ [link removed] ][link removed]



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