Amazon is attempting to avoid accountability by conducting an extremely limited audit that only accounts for a subsector of its workforce.

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.

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 Amazon8,9
  • Black-owned small businesses that are undercut and driven out of business by Amazon10
  • Black communities exploited by Amazon warehouses11
  • Amazon’s discriminatory technology, such as Ring doorbells and algorithms, and relationships with law enforcement that disproportionately harm Black communities12,13

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. 

AMAZON, CONDUCT A FULL RACIAL EQUITY AUDIT

Until justice is real, 
—Jade Magnus Ogunnaike

References: 

  1. Jodi Kantor and Karen Weise, “How Two Best Friends Beat Amazon,” New York Times, April 14, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355297?t=8&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  2. “The Injury Machine: How Amazon’s Production System Hurts Workers,” Strategic Organizing Center, April 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355298?t=10&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  3. Kim Lyons and Justine Calma, “How Amazon Warehouse Policies Put Workers At Risk,” The Verge, December 15, 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355299?t=12&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  4. Paul Blest, “Leaked Amazon memo details plan to smear fired warehouse organizer: ‘He’s not smart or articulate’,” Vice, April 2, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355300?t=14&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355301?t=16&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  6. Jason Del Rey, “Bias, Disrespect, and Demotions: Black employees say Amazon has a race problem,” Vox, February 26, 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355302?t=18&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  7. Saijel Kishan, “Amazon to Undergo Racial Audit, Led by Former AG Lynch,” Bloomberg, April 18, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355303?t=20&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  8. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355304?t=22&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  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, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/334140?t=24&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  11. Kaveh Waddell, “When Amazon Expands, These Communities Pay the Price,” Consumer Reports, December 9, 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355305?t=26&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  12. Sam Biddle, “Amazon ‘stands in solidarity’ against police racism while selling racist tech to police,” The Intercept, June 3, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355306?t=28&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  13. Kim Lyons, “Amazon’s Ring now reportedly partners with more than 2,000 US police and fire departments,” The Verge, January 31, 2021, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355307?t=30&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.
  14. “Tech Framework,” Beyond the Statement, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/355308?t=32&akid=53318%2E4731121%2EGJm-UE.