Corporate allyship: Show your work or quiet down

The public murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor represented a culmination of hundreds of years of violence towards Black people in this country. And for once, non-Black people couldn’t briefly notice it and then quickly move on. They couldn’t look away. No one could. Not even corporate America could turn a blind eye when protests on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement erupted worldwide.

After the death of Mr. Floyd, social media feeds became overwhelmed with heavily vetted solidarity statements and branded graphics from businesses. Additionally, many company leaders made the passionate memos they sent to employees public. Most of these actions, even if well intended, were performative – examples of Optical Allyship.

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