American corporations didn’t want to diversify, anyway

After the murder of George Floyd, many companies turned to toothless diversity initiatives that they abandoned in the wake of Trump 2.0. A conservative agenda dating back to the 50s explains why

At Ford Motor Company, the moral stock-taking began with a letter.

This is an extraordinary moment in our history," Bill Ford, the company's executive chair, and Jim Hackett, its CEO, wrote to employees on 1 June 2020. It had been three months of upheaval since the coronavirus pandemic began and the company first suspended production at its manufacturing sites. By mid-May, more than 87,000 people in the United States had died from the virus. Then, on 25 May, the video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes, ultimately killing him, was seared into Americans' consciousness.