Race/Racism

‘Woke’ Firms Deny Discrimination Complaints and Black Farmers Are Still Denied Justice

Stephanie Siek
Momentum
5 min readJun 25, 2021

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Your weekly roundup of race and racism stories you need to know.

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

Despite its seasonal rhetoric on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, corporate America too often gives itself the benefit of the doubt when facing allegations of racism. Power will go to great lengths to preserve itself, and a few of the stories in this week’s roundup exemplify that — from financial services companies who use scorched-earth methods to discourage workers from lodging discrimination complaints, to White farmers suing to prevent the government from compensating Black farmers for decades of racist policies. But take heart — there’s some good news, too. We close with a link to a photo essay of a Black cowgirl who is carrying on her family’s championship rodeo legacy.

How forced arbitration policies preserve the whiteness of Wall Street

In the past year, a lot of Wall Street firms have issued statements about their commitment to diversity and their fight again racism and discrimination within their institutions. Well, according to this investigation by The Nation and Type Investigations, their actions aren’t matching their rhetoric. “What we found is that financial…

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Stephanie Siek
Momentum

Stephanie Siek is a writer and editor who loves cats, cookie dough and aborted alliteration.