To Goldman Sachs Gives, Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, and National Philanthropic Trust:
Stop Funding Neo-Segregationists
UPDATE:
Thanks to the efforts of people like you, we've teamed up with our partners at the National Institute for Workers' Rights (NIWR) to send a letter to the IRS, calling on them to investigate the Goldman Sachs Gives' contributions to neo-segregationists. Sign our petition to keep the pressure on!
Our racial justice infrastructure and bedrock civil rights laws are under attack by the same people who brought us voter suppression and bans on Black history. And it's all funded by the biggest charities in the country.
Christopher Rufo, Stephen Miller, Kris Kobach and Ed Blum are mobilizing a pro-discrimination agenda to restrict Black people’s access to the workplace and our education system, and to restore Jim Crow-era privileges for white people. These four neo-segregationists are funded directly by corporate charities like the Goldman Sachs Gives, Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, and National Philanthropic Trust. Together, they have provided more than $24.5 million to neo-segregationists and related groups in just the last few years. Every one of these corporations and their charities have made public statements declaring their support for Black people and diversity initiatives at the same time they were funneling millions of dollars to neo-segregationist figures and organizations. Corporations do not get to simultaneously bolster their reputation by celebrating the financial assistance they give to Black people, while also handing millions to the same neo-segregationists that would make investing in our communities illegal.
These neo-segregationists have been behind attacks ranging from the lawsuit that last year successfully struck down Affirmative Action in college admissions; to trying to shut down the Black-led Fearless Fund for supporting Black-owned businesses; to universities across the country ending educational scholarships meant for Black students; to the introduction of state legislation that would make any efforts to address anti-Black discrimination illegal; to almost daily lawsuits against corporations for making diversity commitments.
These continuous and coordinated efforts by neo-segregationists to enshrine white privilege and pro-white discrimination have a central dangerous end goal: To reinstate the policies, laws and cultural norms that sustained Jim Crow at every level of society. That includes striking down the federal Civil Rights Act — one of the biggest wins of the Civil Rights Movement — that guarantees us all freedom from discrimination.
The threat from these neo-segregationists is real. With a U.S. Supreme Court majority deeply sympathetic to their white nationalist vision for America, and nearly a quarter of lower court judges having been hand picked by extremist Donald Trump himself, none of our laws that guarantee equality and freedom from discrimination or that actively repair those harms are safe. As long as millions in corporate donations flow into their coffers, these neo-segregationists will have the resources to keep challenging our bedrock civil rights laws in court until they get the outcome they want. We cannot let that happen. We have the power to do something about it.
Join us in demanding Goldman Sachs and the rest of these corporate charities stop funding neo-segregationists and their plot to enshrine unearned opportunity and privilege for white people.
Here is the Petition:
During the last few years, neo-segregationists have mobilized to restrict Black people’s access to the workplace and our education system, and to restore Jim Crow-era privileges for white people. This movement is actively undermining the legislative wins of the Civil Rights Movement by threatening major corporations for their efforts at racial inclusivity and has introduced anti-DEI legislation in several states to co-opt civil rights and diversity vernacular to exclude Black employees and students from fair and equal opportunities.
The leaders of the neo-segregationist movement, Ed Blum, Chris Rufo, Kris Kobach, and Stephen Miller, as well as the network of organizations they lead, have received millions from corporate charities like yours. Christopher Rufo, who previously spearheaded efforts to eliminate Black history in schools across the country, has laid bare the end goal of their neo-segregationist agenda to eliminate all civil rights protections, explicitly calling for the dismantling of the Civil Rights Act.
Without action from your charity, we will continue to see entire university systems, such as what recently transpired with the University of Florida, close down their efforts to address discrimination and inequality and guarantee that the unjust and privileged access of white students remains permanently ensconced. And we will see financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Bank of New York roll back and eliminate programs that attempt to address the discriminatory structures that have made their workplaces overwhelmingly white and male. As leaders of the biggest charities in the nation, you have a responsibility to demonstrate that your actions align with your values regarding creating workplaces and educational opportunities free from discrimination.