Solidarity, or joining the ‘bandwagon’? Some corporate activism backfires amid protests

It was a cascade of solidarity messages from some of the biggest players in entertainment and tech. On Sunday, Amazon, whose studio is a big employer in Los Angeles, tweeted: “together we stand in solidarity with the Black community.” Civil rights campaigners such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Fight for the Future used the tweet to point out that Amazon’s Ring camera-enabled doorbell has partnered with police departments, raising concerns about the risks to privacy and racial profiling. “Please also feel free to address the anti-blackness within your own companies — hire more of us, listen to us, promote us, pay us more and check the rampant microagressions faced by the Black employees and creatives you do employ.” CBS sold the Fairfax-based television studios complex last year. Executives at Disney — whose streaming unit Hulu and superhero movie studio Marvel also tweeted support for the protests — wrote to employees that they “too, are struggling to make sense of the recent tragedies that leave us feeling overcome with sorrow.” “While we don’t have all the answers, we resolve to use our compassion, our creative ideas and our collective sense of humanity to ensure we are fostering a culture that acknowledges our people’s feelings and their pain,” the statement read. “We also realize that now more than ever is the time for us all to further strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion everywhere.” WarnerMedia television networks changed their Twitter handles to read “#BlackLivesMatter.” Warner Bros., the Burbank-based movie and TV studio, posted a quote from lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson, who was played by Michael B. Jordan in the 2019 Warner Bros. movie “Just Mercy.” “Somebody has to stand when others are sitting.