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Since the Trump administration started cracking down on DEI programs at the start of this year, many companies have scrambled to either dismantle or obscure their DEI programs. But former gubernatorial candidate for the state of Georgia Stacey Abrams has a word of warning for corporations changing their policies to placate a new political order: it won’t stop here.
“This notion that simply complying a little bit stops at the water’s edge is antithetical to every history we have ever written, and it costs you,” she said on a panel at NYU School of Law on July 11. Abrams now runs America Pride Rises, an organization dedicated to defending and expanding DEI. “It may not cost you in the short term, but in the long term.”
Abrams argues that the companies who have previously made DEI commitments, only to reverse them a few years later, will end up isolating certain groups in the process. These companies are “not operating in silos,” she added, because consumers are paying attention. That includes federal contractors who have been ordered by President Trump to do away with their DEI policies, or lose out on the government’s business.
“I’m also less sympathetic to multi-billion dollar corporations that are concerned about losing a few contracts when they’re willing to sacrifice whole communities for that purpose,” said Abrams.
Major companies like Target have faced boycotts and criticism from customers for reducing or eliminating their DEI initiatives, leading to dips in traffic and missed sales expectations recently. But Abrams noted Costco as an example of a company that’s stood by their DEI policies. Earlier this year, the company’s board directors unanimously asked shareholders to vote down an anti-DEI shareholder proposal, which they did by a margin of 98%. The board said the organization is “rooted in respect” and that inclusion is “appropriate and necessary.”
It’s these kinds of moves that Abrams points out as necessary to advocating for DEI programs are not only legal, but advantageous for organizations.
“Costco has always been grounded in this responsibility. Therefore, irrespective of the change, they never had to change their policies, they never had to promote who they were. They simply are. And we can see the distinction between Costco and other institutions.”
Brit Morse
brit.morse@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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