Walmart recently announced that it intends to abandon its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, currently part of its nonprofit Center for Racial Equity. The world’s largest retailer has joined several other major corporations in distancing themselves from DEI policies, including Boeing, Deere & Co., Ford, Harley Davidson, J.P. Morgan Chase, Lowe’s, and Tractor Supply. Walmart is the largest corporation to back away from DEI policies to date.
While Walmart’s latest move likely acknowledges the changing landscape of corporations away from DEI in the aftermath of the election, president and CEO of Walmart U.S. says the move is to “ensure every customer, every associate” feels like they belong.
Walmart created the Center for Racial Equity in response to the 2020 shooting of George Floyd and the 2019 mass shooting at a Texas Walmart. The retail giant pledged $100 million over five years to fund the Center and its initiatives. The purpose of the Center was to address disparities in outcomes between Black and African American individuals and others in criminal justice systems, education, finance, and health.
Walmart’s announcement also follows various legal wins for conservative advocacy groups who have sued to stop federal and corporate programs that assist minority and women-owned businesses and employees. Recent actions by the company to avoid using the term “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in its written policies and changing a job title from “Chief Diversity Officer” to Chief Belonging Officer” likely foreshadowed the retailer’s dismantling of its Center for Racial Equity.
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