Summary
Walmart is scaling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts amid conservative backlash and changing cultural pressures.
The company removed LGBTQ-themed items, stopped sharing data with advocacy groups, and phased out supplier diversity programs and its Center for Racial Equity, created in 2020.
Walmart also rebranded its diversity roles, though it will continue funding events like Pride parades under stricter guidelines.
Activists opposing DEI policies, like Robby Starbuck, have praised these changes.
well now I’ll have to continue never shopping at walmart.
I’ve been avoiding them for decades now. What they do to labor, what they do to suppliers, now this. And to top it all off, it’s just a really unpleasant place to shop.
Walmart isn’t my friend? It isn’t a friend of the working class? A friend of marginalized groups? Wow, I’m just so shocked that it only pretends to be these things for prof-- Just kidding, fuck Walmart. Arguably in the top 5 worst extant companies to ever come out of the US and a parasite on communities everywhere. Needs to be boycotted as much as practicable.
If I weren’t already not shopping at Walmart, I would be excited to begin not shopping at Walmart in response to this. Can’t win 'em all.
The Walmarts near me pushed all the local businesses out like 2 or 3 decades ago, but now they are shutting some of the stores down… so now the closest Walmart is like an hour away.
Luckily some of the business is returning, but for every useful business that opens, another vape shop opens.
Thanks for the heads up OP. Everyone reading probably knows someone who works there or has worked there themselves. Everything they do sets a weighty precedent for workers, to put it mildly.
its former chief diversity officer role is now called the chief belonging officer
… these petty assholes.
I wish this news bit had at least mentioned Walmart’s White Christian fundamentalist roots. Or how they destroy local businesses and source overseas for their ‘free market,’ their anti-union activism, low wages, shit healthcare options, well-documented sexism and racism in the workplace, etc. In 2020, Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon was an advisor to Trump. Walmart’s political spending in 2024 alone should’ve been at least a footnote. Context matters so much.
The anti-union shit is insane. I know there are laws forbidding anti-union propaganda at the workplace; but every Walmart back room I’ve been in has been fucking plastered with anti-union bullshit, as well as anti-union videos being shown as part of the training.
Their anti-union work is legendary. Walton inspired frikkin Bezos.
That they can talk about “pulling back on DEI efforts” in the news bit and not mention that most of Wally’s workforce is women and PoC? News in a vacuum.
They haven’t “stepped back from diversity, equity and inclusion efforts after feeling the heat from conservative activists.” Walmart IS the Conservative activist in this situation.
Walmart had meat cutters at one point. Good job performed by skilled workers, protected by a strong union. But Walmart would rather remove them from all stores than pay fair wages and benefits, so that’s what they did. Walmart will straight up close stores and exit profitable markets rather than negotiate with a collective bargaining group. It’s all about control…
Walmart: “We side with fascists! Shop here!”
Preemptive obedience at work.
This decision was no doubt motivated by the exact same question that made them put that merchandise up in the first place: “what will result in us earning more profit?”
I’d like to see hard data on whether or not being “anti-woke” generates more profit. I’ve never seen evidence that it does.
It’s the perfect excuse to cut back on funding expenditures and increase cronyism, and that’s all the justification that they need.
Have corpos ever needed an excuse for that? This seems more like thinking that Americans in general will reward them for being “anti-woke.”
I think it may be silly to repeat their made up words. Let’s just call them classist, racist, and sexist since that is what it really is.
“Americans in general will reward them for being classist, racist and sexist.”
Yeah, I like that. It is a lot more visceral and accurate.
Less succinct, but indeed more clear. But you have to add things like transphobic and homophobic as well.
Oof, you’re right, I forgot about those and they are definitely part of the issue.
Maybe we could use bigotry here.
“Americans in general will reward them for their bigotry”
Yeah, that’s a good word for it.
No, but having it be justified by a portion of the population with violent tendencies makes it easy to avoid getting in trouble with the law for doing. You say that you’re getting rid of worker safety programs and bringing back child labor, and people start asking questions. You say that the children yearn for the mines but the woke won’t let them, and half the country will start punching elementary teachers for not letting kids get Black Lung.
Basically, it’s a combo of the two. They get to do the things that they want to do anyway, and they get support from a group of people trying to destroy regulations simply for doing it.
I was in one recently and one of the workers was wearing a rainbow cape with the Walmart star thing on it. I thought it was neat. Now I worry for this person.
Unrelated, but I was shopping in a local Walmart a couple years ago, and they had one of their employees (who I assume was either a choir kid in high school or in a choir program at college) singing close to the front of the store. He sounded really good, I just thought it was weird Walmart was doing that. I think it was for some fundraiser or something.
You probably got it right the first time in thinking that the kids was in an actual program to support his singing, and he’s going to practice no matter how weird he’s perceived, because, let’s face it… It’s Walmart
“changing cultural pressures”
Right
More like Trump making bigots bold.
Bigots need to be put back in the closet where they belong. The world was better when you didn’t have republican harpies shrieking shit like “your body my choice”, and the N-word in public.
Really, that’s what these businesses are good for: a barometer of social pressures and cultural views.
A poll can be twisted whichever way, pundits on TV can say whatever they want, but at the end of the day a company will do what makes it the most money. It’s the truest measure of what the majority of society thinks.
So if being LGBTQ friendly gets them more money, they will, and if being nasty to LGBTQ people gets them more money, they’ll do that.
Them pulling LGBTQ stuff back is far more a condemnation of society than of the company.
Need to bring People of Walmart back since the white trailer park trash is going to be the only ones shopping there now
“Trailer park trash” are surprisingly open people. A friend of a friend is part of a pretty small anarchist community within a trailer park. I think a HOA would typically be much more of an issue for queers.
Don’t misunderstand. Living in a trailer park doesn’t make you trash
Sexual orientation transcends class divides/labels like that…
Haha. Very good point. In that case, we’ll still see a myriad of naivete
Go to one in a rural area and that’s always been the clientele
I still got my Frog and Toad shirt before they were pulled off the shelf.
They so were. Come on.
Oh Arnold Lobel has confirmed it. He was closeted until 1974 himself.
Here’s a shirt for ya:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1356555778/frog-and-toad-are-gay-shirt
Nah they were just really good friends who lived together and did everything together and …
Holy shit
Removed by mod
