Companies that donated to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Global Network Foundation – including Amazon, Intel and Microsoft – have yet to weigh in on the
Companies that donated to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Global Network Foundation – including Amazon, Intel and Microsoft – have yet to weigh in on the movement’s call to boycott white companies this Christmas, despite the group profiting from corporate donations.
The organization on Instagram urged its supporters to participate in ‘Black Xmas’ by buying ‘exclusively from Black-owned businesses’ through January 1.
‘Move your money out of white-corporate banks that finance our oppression and open accounts with Black-owned banks,’ it said.
But the group has benefited from huge corporate donations itself.
In June 2020, Amazon said it donated $10 million to social justice causes including the ACLU Foundation, BLM, Brennan Center for Justice, the Equal Justice Initiative and more.
Microsoft around the same time donated $250,000 to BLM as part of a $1.5 million effort to address racial inequity.
Also during spring 2020, then-Intel chief executive Bob Swan said the company would pledge $1 million toward addressing social justice and racism.
Black Lives on Matter is calling on its followers to participate in ‘Black Xmas’ by shopping exclusively at black-owned stores through January 1
The money was spread throughout a number of non-profits and Swan encouraged employees to donate to the Black Lives Matter Foundation and others that were eligible for the company’s donation-matching program.
Amazon and Microsoft did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment; Intel refused comment.
Other companies that have donated to racial equality efforts include Home Depot, Apple, Facebook and more.
On November 24, BLM said on its website that shopping at white-owned stores hurts black people and asked its followers to ‘harness our economic power to disrupt white-supremacist-capitalism and build Black community.’
They put out this year’s call as part of a tradition that began in 2014, despite profiting massively from white-owned and operated corporations.
The movement is asking its followers to participate in Black Xmas by donating to Black-led causes, supporting black-owned businesses through the New Year, and moving savings to black-owned banks.
Its online statement referenced the death of John Crawford, who was gunned down by police August 5, 2014 at a Walmart store in Beavercreek, Ohio after a shopper contacted police to report he was waving an A5-15 at customers.
READ RELATED: How to lose visceral fat: VLCD diet significantly reduces the belly fat – what to eat
But footage of the 22-year-old proved he was holding a pellet gun he had picked up in the store’s toy department.
Last year, a San Francisco Bay Area police officer was charged with voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a black man inside a San Francisco Bay Area Walmart store.
Steven Taylor, 33, was fatally shot April 18, 2020 by San Leandro police officer Jason Fletcher, 49, who responded to a call about an alleged shoplifter inside the store who was holding a baseball bat.
‘As BLMLA organizer, Jan Williams, reminds us, “Capitalism doesn’t love Black people,”’ BLM said on its website. ‘In fact, white-supremacist-capitalism invented policing, initially as chattel-slavery-era “paddy rollers,” in order to protect its interests and put targets on the backs of Black people.
‘Under modern-day policing, those targets have been affixed to the backs of Black people like, #JohnCrawford and #StevenTaylor, who were murdered by police inside Walmart stores.’
Corporate executives have not been unsympathetic to the issue.
Black Lives Matters in a statement on its websites offers advice on how people can support the community during the holidays
Amazon’s website had added a banner reading ‘Black Lives Matter’
BLM is spearheading the initiative despite receiving public support and corporate donations from Amazon, Intel, Microsoft and more
In June 2020, then-Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos publicly expressed his support for BLM as protests over the death of George Floyd continued across the country.
He shared a customer email as well as his response on Instagram, explaining why Amazon’s website had added a banner reading ‘Black Lives Matter.’
The irate customer wrote: ‘I am for everyone voicing their opinions and standing up for what you believe in, but for your company to blast this on your website is very offensive to me… ALL LIVES MATTER!’
Bezos responded: ‘I have to disagree with you. ‘Black lives matter’ doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter.’
‘Black lives matter speaks to racism and the disproportionate risk that Black people face in our law enforcement and justice system,’ Bezos continued.
‘I have a 20-year-old son, and I simply don’t worry that he might be choked to death while being detained one day. It’s not something I worry about. Black parents can’t say the same.’
Intel’s then-leader sent a memo to employees in June 2020 imploring them to help fight racism.
‘Black lives matter. Period,’ Swan wrote.
‘While racism can look very different around the world, one thing that does not look different is that racism of any kind will not be tolerated here at Intel or in our communities.’
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has expressed his support for Black Lives Matter, as protests over the death of George Floyd continue across the country
Bezos shared a customer email (left) as well as his response (right) on Instagram on Friday
Post source: Daily mail
Source:
