Adidas Employees Staging Protest, Says Brand Should Practice Own Views On Racism
Adidas employees, at the brand’s North America headquarters in Portland, Ore., have had enough of their company preaching about racism and not practicing their own views. Subsequently, they are staging a protest.
Last week, the company spoke out on racism, posting a photo of the word “racism” crossed out and the words, “Together is how we move forward. Together is how we make change. Together we must fight what is wrong and try to make it right.” They captioned it, “Take action. Things won’t change unless we create that change.”
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In a letter to the company, where she requests a public apology, Assistant Designer Julia Bond, states, “My existence at this brand is praised as diversity and inclusion, but when I look around, I see no one above or around that looks like me. I can no longer stand for Adidas’ consistent complacency in taking active steps against a racist work environment. This is not business as usual. The systems in place that are killing black people are the same systems of oppression that are present at Adidas.”
Bond continues, “Adidas has shown that there is a high tolerance for racism, even though publicly, they admonish it. How many times have I gone into HR about a racist incident — only to be met with responses about the inflictors intent versus their impact-thus negating my experience?”
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