New York (AFP)

Actions, not words: American bosses are asked to go beyond condemnation of police violence after the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American a week ago.

"Companies have the opportunity to fill the vacuum left by the government," urges Richard Edelman, boss of the powerful eponymous public relations agency. "It doesn't have to be just com. It takes action".

Calls to action are multiplying to reduce economic inequalities, one of the sources of popular anger expressed in the demonstrations, sometimes violent, which have been raging in the country for the past few days.

They rely on the absence of diversity at the highest level of societies despite the promises a thousand times repeated.

According to a 2019 report from the Boston Consulting Group, only three African Americans and twenty-four women lead the 500 largest U.S. companies by revenue.

- "Platitudes" -

Big bosses, like Tim Cook (Apple), David Solomon (Goldman Sachs) or Larry Fink (BlackRock) denounced racism this weekend.

Ken Frazier, the CEO of the pharmaceutical laboratory Merck, sees it as "platitudes".

The only African-American to manage one of the thirty companies in the Dow Jones index, he advocates for practical initiatives aimed at the professional integration of minorities who most often occupy menial jobs - storekeepers, cashiers, housekeepers, garbage collectors , deliverers etc.

"When there is civil unrest, people publish press releases; they publish platitudes (...) I think the business community must go beyond press releases", lambasted on CNBC on Monday , M. Frazier.

He himself owes his social success to an initiative enabling disadvantaged young people to join elite schools in Philadelphia.

He proposes to multiply these and other actions to train African-Americans and Hispanics and help them enter the world of business.

"Economic leaders can be a force for unity (...) Our society is more divided than ever. The workplace is the last place in America, other than the military and perhaps sports, where people do not can choose who to partner with, "he argues, adding that:" Unemployment leads to hopelessness and hopelessness leads to what we see on the streets of our country today " .

- "Brand democracy" -

According to the progressive think tank Economic Policy Institute, the average income of white households in 2018 was 70,642 dollars against 41,692 for black households. In February, before the pandemic, the unemployment rate was 5.8% for black people and only 3.1% for whites.

For Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of the investment firm Ariel Investments, "when you look at the corporate hierarchy in America, from top to bottom, you find that black and Hispanic Americans are not there, as if we don't exist in this country. "

"It's unacceptable," said the African-American businesswoman.

It enjoins companies to put into practice their commitments in terms of good governance and advises shareholders to use their vote to sanction recalcitrant companies.

Experts also advocate the adoption of a quota policy like the "Rooney Rule". It is a mechanism put in place by the Professional American Football League (NFL), asking teams to audition a candidate from visible minorities each time a coaching position becomes available in order to give them access to leadership positions.

"If the American business community is genuinely serious about racism, it is necessary to have rules like these in place," said Hank Boyd, professor of marketing at the University of Maryland.

Another avenue would be to hire visible minorities for positions of responsibility, to invest in startups created by African-Americans and Hispanics and for executives of large companies to join parallel boards of directors of NGOs. present in disadvantaged neighborhoods, advocates Richard Edelman.

For him, it is in the interest of companies because two-thirds of consumers, and in this case "millennials" (17-35 years old, many of whom are currently manifesting), buy according to their values.

"They practice brand democracy. Every time they go to a store, they want to know if their brands really represent them," says Edelman.

"There was a time when companies said that they did not want to take sides, that they were Switzerland (neutral). It is no longer possible," adds Hank Boyd. "It's a new era".

© 2020 AFP