Black Lives and Business - Facing Systemic Inequality in the USA

As part of a new series on Black Lives and Business, IHRB and partners will reflect on systemic inequities in companies, economies, and communities in the United States, how US companies have impacts abroad, and the lessons the US experience can offer globally. Implicit biases, perceptions of differences based on race or ethnicity, and power imbalances have created false and dangerous hierarchies perpetuating race-based discrimination, impacting how companies act, what they say they are doing, their actions, and the linkages between discrimination, inequality, and the global economy.

Can companies be truly meritocratic? How far do their responsibilities go? What lessons can be learned from around the world? As part of our series of conversations on Black Lives and Business, IHRB will speak with experts on what companies can and should do to ensure that they walk the walk and not only talk the talk.

Thursday 9th July 2020 | 9am ET | 2pm BST

Featuring

  • Dominique Day, Member of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
  • Ella L J Bell Smith, Professor of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
  • Andrea Shemberg, Chair at the Global Business Initiative for Human Rights
  • In conversation with IHRB's Senior Advisor on Global Issues, Salil Tripathi

This is the second in our discussion series on Black Lives and Business. The first looks at the state of race relations in the UK and the role of companies, raising questions about the past and present. As young black men and women seek to enter and progress within employment, enterprise, creative industries, are the ownership structures and senior management fit for purpose for a more diverse society? Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey, former UK Government Minister Sam Gymiah, and IHRB's Senior Advisor on Global Issues Salil Tripathi discuss challenging questions and ideas about the way forward.

Image: Flickr/Ted Eytan