Walmart joins list of companies that are rolling back DEI policies

Tonight, Walmart joining a growing list of companies rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives amid growing pressure from conservative activist. I'm very proud to report to you guys that Walmart has decided on making some changes. The largest retailer in the world confirming it will curb racial equity training for employees. No longer consider suppliers race or gender to boost diversity. Stop selling LGBTQ themed items online that are marketed to children, including chest binders for youth going through a gender change and in funding for its Racial Equity Center A5 year philanthropic effort launched after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked nationwide protests and a racial justice reckoning. Walmart, which employs roughly 1.6 million workers in the US, also ended its participation in the human rights Campaigns Corporate Equality Index following the same move by Ford, Harley-Davidson, Lowe's and Molson Coors. We will not stop until we have eliminated in corporate America the public push for change at Walmart, spearheaded by Robbie Starbuck, a former music video director turned conservative activist who leads what he calls an effort to eliminate wokeness. I think this is a tremendous victory. Many have tried to get companies at this scale to change corporate policy, and it's ultimately a very, very difficult effort. What do you think the implications of this are? Big picture is actually very simple for me. I believe that companies need to sort of change the way that they operate around these issues to adopt A neutral approach where nobody with a specific set of political beliefs feels that the other side's political beliefs are being forced on them. A spokesperson for Walmart confirms the company had conversations with Starbuck over the last week, but already had DEI related changes underway. Walmart writing in a statement. We've been on a journey and no, we aren't perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging. Starbuck, who has more than a million followers on social media, has called on consumers to boycott several companies over their, quote, woke policies. I got some Bud Lights for us. A similar boycott of Bud Light last year after the company featured transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in marketing tanked sales of the beer, with Anheuser Busch reporting a 10.5% revenue decline in the months that followed. Conservatives have organized in ways that progressive and liberals, frankly, just have not. They have organized in ways to attack DEI and to spread misinformation and disinformation about what DEI is and aims to do. Sean Harper, a professor of business who has worked with hundreds of companies, says DEI initiatives are meant to be inclusive, not divisive. He says the undoing of those efforts shows some corporations failed to prioritize diversity in a meaningful way. The fact that these efforts are so easily undone strongly signal to me that they were not as durable as they should have been in the 1st place, that the commitment to them, the corporate commitment, was not as strong as it should have been. What message does this send to other retailers, To consumers? What are the far reaching implications when companies abandoned their commitment to DEI, especially a company as big as Walmart? It gives others permission to do so. It gives others permission to turn their backs on women, on veterans, on Americans with Disabilities, on customers, clients and employees who are racially and ethnically diverse. All right, Priscilla joins us tonight. So, Priscilla, can we expect more companies to rollback the EI policies? Well, Tom, that is definitely a possibility because of a number of factors. 1, you have a conservative activists like Robbie Starbucks saying that they this is a huge victory and they now feel empowered to pressure other companies to do the same. But you also look at what's happening in Washington with president-elect Donald Trump coming in and Republicans in control of the House and the Senate. Already we are seeing this bill dismantled, DEI making its way through the House, leading to very fiery debates last week there. But that business professor who you heard from there says that it may not be sustainable to rollback all of these policies that just as we saw in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, this awakening on the other side of this issue with people calling for greater, greater equity and inclusion, we could see that side begin to rise up again as these rollbacks are taking place. So at some point, it's going to have to reach a level that is sustainable for the long term. OK, Priscilla Thompson, a lot of reporting there. We appreciate it.