adidas promises 30% of new U.S. hires will end up being black or Latino
11 June, 2020
adidas says that 30 percent of all its fresh hires in the U.S. will be dark or Latino people, amid anti-racism protests that have rocked the country for nearly fourteen days.
"The events of the past fourteen days have caused most of us to think about what we are able to do to confront the cultural and systemic forces that sustain racism," said adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted in a statement.
The sportswear giant announced the brand new measure, among several others, the same day as the funeral of George Floyd, a black man killed in U.S. police custody whenever a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his throat.
Floyd's death, the latest in a long line of unarmed dark men getting killed by white police officers, ignited ongoing protests against police brutality and anti-black racism.
adidas staff had recently criticized the company for not doing a sufficient amount of to fight racial discrimination.
The German-based group also announced that over another four years, it'll increase to $20 million funding because of its programs that support African Americans -- a basketball program for underserved communities, funding for the adidas shoe design school and an application to support the black community through sports.
adidas as well promised to invest in 50 scholarships because of its black employees each year for the next five years.
adidas's guarantee comes alongside a great many other businesses investing in fight racism.
"We recognize that the fight racism is one which should be fought continually and actively. We should and can do better," Adidas explained in its statement.
In an unusual move, the adidas Twitter account lately retweeted an anti-racism ad unveiled by its rival Nike that says, "For once, Don't Do It. Don't pretend there's no problem in America."
"Together is how exactly we progress. Together is how we make change," adidas wrote in its tweet.
Source: japantoday.com
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