The 2020 murder of George Floyd ignited a racial justice movement that extended from grassroots activism to corporate boardrooms. Companies launched initiatives to ensure their workforces were more inclusive of underrepresented communities in a modern revamp of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Many pledged to invest billions of dollars to promote racial equity and gender equality.
But within five years, the tides turned on DEI campaigns when the 2023 Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action programs dampened DEI efforts. And on the second day of his second term, President Donald Trump rang in an “anti-woke” agenda through an executive order that overturned Biden-era federal DEI initiatives, and which rippled throughout the corporate world.
