Black Lives Matters organizers brought the spirit of downtown Portland’s activism to Nike’s suburban campus this week, leading protests over the company’s minority hiring practices.
About 30 demonstrators gathered Monday on Southwest Jenkins Road, just south of Nike’s headquarters near Beaverton, returning for a second straight day of protests. Seneca Cayson, an organizer of the volatile downtown demonstrations, said it was time to bring the Black Lives Matter movement to the suburbs. He called on Nike to close the gap between what it says publicly about racial justice and how things actually play out inside the company.
The early afternoon protests will continue indefinitely and remain nonviolent, Cayson vowed.
Though demonstrators didn’t know at Monday’s protest, one of their group’s top goals had already been accomplished. The news hit Monday afternoon that Kellie Leonard, Nike’s chief diversity officer, was leaving the company.
Protestors had demanded the departure of both Leonard and the company’s top human resources executive.
Nike spokesman Greg Rossiter said Leonard’s departure had nothing to do with the protests. Nike announced a new diversity officer, former Tesla executive Felicia Mayo, in conjunction with Leonard’s exit. That suggests it was a plan long in the works.
Issues of race and equity are touchy for Nike. Black athletes and Black culture have helped make it a $40-billion-a-year operation. And yet protestors and a handful of insiders claim the corporate culture is not fair to people of color.
John Donahoe, Nike’s new CEO, has said he’s not satisfied with Nike’s position on racial equity. The company said in June that it will devote $40 million over four years to programs that promoted social justice and equal opportunity.
“Systemic racism and the events that have unfolded across America over the past few weeks serve as an urgent reminder of the continued change needed in our society,” Donahoe said in a June statement. “We know Black Lives Matter. We must educate ourselves more deeply on the issues faced by Black communities and understand the enormous suffering and senseless tragedy racial bigotry creates. The NIKE, Inc. family can always do more but will never stop striving to role model how a diverse company acts.”
Forty-million dollars over four years is a significant commitment. But as newly filed regulatory documents show, it’s actually significantly less than Donahoe’s compensation in the just the 2019-20 fiscal year. Between his salary, stock and cash bonuses, Nike puts the value of Donahoe’s total compensation at nearly $54 million.
A few of Monday’s protestors were Nike employees. One, a young Black woman who asked that her name not be printed, said she sees both the good and the bad at the company. She said she was shocked at the relatively few Black employees she saw in her first couple years there. On the other hand, she said Nike deserves some credit for tackling the issue.
“I do think Nike is on the right side,” she said. “However they need to change internally, to change their hiring process.”
James Zormeir, a white sneaker designer, also attended the protest. He and a co-worker wore masks emblazoned with the Swoosh.
Zormeir agreed to have his name to be printed, though he conceded it was a risk. Given the escalation of the downtown protests and the controversial involvement of federal law enforcement agencies, he said it’s not the time to play it safe.
“There are worse things that can happen than me losing my job,” he said.
As his fellow demonstrators chanted the names of police brutality victims George Floyd and Brionna Taylor, Zormeir called on Nike to live by its own marketing jargon.
“Their whole thing is being the outsider, the rebel, the irreverent spirit,” he said. “What could be more rebellious and irreverent than this?”
In reaction to the demonstrations, company officials said Nike’s “aspiration is to be a leader in building a diverse and inclusive team and culture.” It has assembled a task force to accelerate the process of creating that culture throughout the company.
