Corporate America will truly be addressing racial justice when it ‘costs something’: Michael Eric Dyson

‘Long Time Coming’ author Michael Eric Dyson joins 'Influencers with Andy Serwer' to discuss the actions of corporate America in addressing racial inequality.

Video Transcript

ANDY SERWER: Let me ask you about another power center in America, Michael, which kind of concerns our audience maybe more directly, and you alluded to this, which is corporate America. And, you know, this is tricky stuff because people have good intentions here and there is some action, but I'd love to get your assessment of corporate America's responses in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing.

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON: Well, look, it was great in terms of the immediate aftermath. You know, like hey, this is powerful. You know, we got more monies to develop toward people being brought in. We want to be more diverse. We want to see a broader swath of the universe participate. All that stuff is great.

But, you know, when you get down to brass tacks and knuckles, how are you changing your process? Who are your VPs? Who are the people in the room? Who are the people who can green light projects? Who are the people who can have real resources behind your intent to do well?

So at that level, it means you've got to restructure, rejigger what's going on. It can't just be surface or cosmetic. It's got to be more internal. The skeletons, the bones have to be readjusted so that the flesh that is put upon them can look a bit different.

And so corporate America has to ask, how are you making so much money at the expense of these very Black people who are dying and all you're giving back is a small sliver, a small percentage? Because be rest assured what the corporations are doing in response to Black Lives Matter and saying we're going to pledge money is barely anything in compensation for the amounts of money that Black people put into their pockets, right, across the board.

And so that recognition means you got to do a little bit more, whether you're a sports league or whether you are a, you know, financial-services business or whether you're with clothes or shoes or entertainment. Black folk are sustaining you in far higher numbers than you're willing to pay back or give back or recognize in your bottom-line budgets for Black Lives Matter.

So again, Martin Luther King Jr. said, yo, the civil rights bill didn't cost you nothing. Voting rights, that ain't costing you nothing. What I'm asking for now, economic parity, you don't deal with that. And in an aftermath of his death, housing-- the housing fair act-- the fair act for housing passed, right, '68. That cost something. That means you've got to give up your rapacious, you know, individualism or your rapacious corporate practices when it comes to real-estate companies that are redlining and directing Black people towards certain neighborhoods and ripping them off and taking their money without giving them the bang on their buck.

So all that stuff means it costs something. And until it costs you something as corporate America, you really ain't doing anything to make a difference in terms of race in America.