Do Black Lives Matter Globally?
Big surprise, seems like they don’t.
On Tuesday morning, July 21st I woke up to a headline on my phone “Apple to become carbon neutral by 2030”. The way this year has been going, I’ve been desperate for good news headlines. I sighed in relief and went about making my morning coffee. As I poured the beans I was jolted by a pessimistic thought, ‘has Apple pledged to ensure their supply chains are free of exploitative slave and child labor’?
So, of course, I had to look it up. Turns out Apple won an award for its efforts to eliminate exploitative practices in its supply chain by partnering with the UN’s International Organization for Migration establishing a targeted initiative and setting up policies. I visited Apple’s Supplier Responsibility Page and found that they and I quote, “enforce our policies by assessing and closely partnering with suppliers at every point in our supply chain. In 2019 we performed 1142 supplier assessments in 49 countries.”
Then this got me thinking about other companies and their supply chains. 2020 has been a big year with major brands and companies taking a stand regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. Many are declaring their support with public statements of solidarity, but I wonder. Do Black lives matter everywhere? Do Black lives matter all over the globe? If they do, the supply chains of major brands should reflect this.
Big surprise! The evidence shows us that they don’t. Black and Brown lives don’t seem to matter in the complex world of global supply chains and intense competition for market share. I’m one of the privileged who has been able to avoid the truth that the clothing I buy at rock bottom prices, means someone across the world has to work for pennies a day. Living in the United States, it’s easy to ignore the ways that our actions have a ripple effect in the global economy and how the comforts and luxuries we have come at the price of people who labor worldwide. But I’ve recently started to “get woke” to the true cost behind my products and what it means to make ethical consumer choices.
There has been a surge in interest and involvement in online campaigns, and I guess with everybody bored at home, we’re, ironically, learning more about the world around us and beyond our shores. In the past few months, I’ve learned about companies that profit from prison labor or have harmful employee practices that put essential workers at risk, and now I’m realizing how even some of my favorite brands contribute to harms against humanity and the environment (Business Insider link: https://bit.ly/2Y0oYUN)
“Do Black & Brown lives matter everywhere?”
Activists behind the #payup have highlighted how the fashion industry has egregiously violated ethics, including the refusal to pay for orders fulfilled by garment makers across the globe. It’s made me skeptical of the declarations of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement followed by the absence of changes and practical steps at the corporate level which really matter. They may be publicly supportive of the Black lives Matter movement at home and yet trample on people of color in their global supply chain.
“Is the environment more important than the ethical treatment of people?”
I’ve noticed that a lot of the fashion brands criticized for unethical employment and human ethics practices have made major campaigns for their environmental or “green” practices such as clothing recycling and using organic cotton. Stores like H&M have made public campaigns to present themselves as a company that cares about the environment (hmgroup.com/sustainability). When you walk into a store you can purchase from their Conscious Collection and donate your old clothes in the recycle bins prominently displayed. These efforts are well-intentioned at best, however, after years, the results are in. These green campaigns do little to compensate for the harm that the fast fashion industry has on the environment, and even less to reduce harm to garment workers worldwide. I’m sad to see that there seems to be a trend of ‘greenwashing’ and emphasizing environmentalism while ignoring the impact on human lives along their supply chain. As consumers have we signaled that we care more about the environment than about people’s lives? (Learn more here: intersectionalenvironmentalist.com).
In Shona, my native language, there’s an idiom that says “Nzou mutupo pane vanhu/ paseri ava machikichori” Literally, “[Eating] an elephant is a taboo in public / In private it is delicious food” meaning outward respectability may cloak secret self-indulgence. This pandemic has revealed that the status quo isn’t working for most of us. I’m looking at the values we have as a global society and this seems like the right time to take a page out of our ancestors’ book of wisdom and values. In so many ways the solutions have been right in front of us the whole time. Shona values, which are also held in other cultures around the world, are sustainable values. How can we live out these values, can we collectively create a shift in mindset about what we expect from corporations? As consumers we have some power over our spending practices, how can we ensure that they reflect the values we publicly support? How can we be sure that companies that claim to support Black lives and the environment are doing so? Fortunately, organizations are doing the deep work and research to help us along the way, there’s a good guide available on remake.world. I’ve also built a handy guide for people and organizations below. It’s not the whole solution, but a great place to start.
