Access to justice as a human right, organizational entitlement and precursor to diversity and inclusion

Abstract

PurposeIn the wake of the death of George Floyd in the United States, many corporate leaders have released statements condemning racism and police brutality and committed their organizations to focus on diversity and inclusion. While such statements, intentions, and goals are laudable, they evade the phenomenon at the crux of the current social movement: access to justice.Design/methodology/approachThis essay draws upon theory and research across a variety of disciplines to examine the accessibility of justice for African Americans in society and in work organizations.FindingsAs corporate leaders have made statements decrying racism and police brutality and offered their support to civil rights groups and organizations fighting for racial justice, there is a need for that same level of scrutiny and support within their own organizations. As a precursor to diversity and inclusion initiatives, corporate leaders need to take actions to ensure the fairness of outcomes, policies and practices, and treatment by others for African Americans within their organizations.Practical implicationsStrategies for reviewing and revising organizational policies and practices to preserve fairness in the work experiences of African Americans and for creating and maintaining cultures of fairness are offered.Originality/valueThe author integrates historical documents, research, opinion, and literary devices to understand the meaning and practice of justice in society and organizations.

Making Black Lives Matter in academia: A Black feminist call for collective action against anti‐blackness in the academy

“…In the experiences described in Tables 1 and 2 it is difficult to discern with certainty why what happened occurred; relatively few faculty are publicly using racial slurs in academia. However, in attempts to be allies and pursue social justice, it is important for White people to listen to and believe what Blacks say about their experiences (Roberson, 2020; Swan, 2017). Along with the specific instances described in Tables 1 and 2, the following sections further discuss anti‐blackness in research, promotion and tenure, and teaching.…”

Access to justice research: On the way to a broader perspective

“…Goodwin 2016, Hawkins 2016, Eijkman 2018 Pouikli 2021) (often Human Rights; e.g. Francioni 2007, Dupuy et al 2009, Buryi 2018, Krämer 2019, Roberson 2020) and the legal profession (e.g. Ojelabi 2016, Aprile 2016, Hadfield and Rhode 2016, Barnett 2017, Zipursky 2018, Donaldson 2018, Marsden and Buhler 2018, Barbera and Protopapa 2020 in matters of access to justice.…”

CEO statements on racial inequity – (how) do they matter to shareholders?

“…Contextually, there are several reasons why the incident in Minneapolis represents an interesting setting to examine the role that affective appeal and empathy can play in influencing companies’ communication decisions about and market response to, their social activism efforts. Firstly, besides leading to the “most sustained and widespread social protest in American history” (Rhode, 2021, p. 1), the incident was viewed as one of the many unjust acts committed against racial minorities in the USA and elsewhere (Bourgault and Williams, 2020; Roberson, 2020). Secondly, research in behavioural decision theory suggests that market actors have the capacity for empathy and fairness (Fehr and Schmidt, 2006) and that emotions and heuristics distributed through social interactions can influence their preferences (Nofsinger, 2005; Lucey and Dowling, 2005) [1].…”