Recently B Lab (the organization that created B Corporation) shared a unified anti-racism statement as follows:
“As an organization, we stand against anti-Black racism and all forms of oppression including transphobia, classism, sexism, and xenophobia. We commit to a focused and sustained action to dismantle racist systems, policies, practices, and ideologies within ourselves and our networks. As we continue to learn about injustice, we embrace radical reorientation of our consciousness and will listen to the voices of Black, Brown, Indigenous and marginalized peoples to catalyze equitable outcomes for all.”
Another quote from a previous article explains a bit more about B Lab and B Corporations:
“B Lab has always been a proponent of change — that change has been directed toward capitalism. Capitalism and racism can be seen as “conjoined twins,” and that “… the origins of racism cannot be separated from the origins of capitalism … the life of capitalism cannot be separated from the life of racism” (Kendi, 2019).”
Even though AMS Fulfillment became a B Corporation 3 years ago, our mission has always been in alignment with the B Lab viewpoint, rejecting the inhumane concept of ‘profit above all’. The following quote is from the AMS website.
“Since opening our doors for business we have worked to create a principled corporate culture, recognizing that financial performance and growth are not goals unto themselves, but merely outcomes achievable through uncompromising attention to our customers, our organization, our community and ourselves.”
Recently AMS employees held a “March for Change” in response to the police murder of George Floyd and the racism that motivated it. The employees made signs and marched from their various warehouse locations to meet together, enjoy a ‘social distanced’ lunch and listen to remarks on racism and police brutality from Jeffrey Forrest, VP of Economic and Workforce Development at SCV’s College of the Canyons. AMS’ Chief Workforce Development Officer, Ken Wiseman had this to say:
“As we march into the future and visualize the world we want to live in, what is it we will want to see in this new world? We know we will need all of us acting like family. We will need kindness; we need to listen to each other. We will need to look for ways we can create opportunities for those that need our help. We will need to shed our biases, both conscious and unconscious. We will need to treat people like we want to be treated.”
The AMS Diversity and Inclusivity Program has been very active for over 15 months. We had a Diversity and Inclusivity Breakfast on Tuesday, July 21 and will continue this program by hosting monthly meetings for all employees to attend.
The goal is to train participants on how to build inclusive teams, facilitate diversity-related conversations within their divisions, and identify other practices that can promote a positive workplace culture. It is a voluntary program intended to equip participants with knowledge and information allowing them to intervene when they see bias or harassment unfolding, and training them how to talk to others about organizational diversity.
In spirit AMS has always been a B Corporation. We are happy to see the B Lab anti-racism statement, and happy to share it with our clients, community and workforce, reiterating our commitment to enact change and build a more just world for all people.
