About a week ago a Black Amazon manager has filed a lawsuit against her company. She is alleging racial discrimination. She is also filing the lawsuit for sexual harassment, pay inequality, and discrimination. Charlotte Newman has been an employee at Amazon for the past four years. She works in the Web Services department and has the position of public policy manager. This job is a level-6 position. A higher up position compared to new workers at Amazon. Charlotte applied for the senior manager job but was not given this position. It would take her another three years to be able to get this job. She feels that Amazon is not treating Black and Latino employees fairly. She is not just fighting for herself. Charlotte talks about how Amazon doesn’t treat everyone fairly and that she is fighting for the minorities that work for Amazon. Charlotte also talks about how she is paid less in Amazon stock compared to her white coworkers. The inequality is unfair and should never take place in large corporations. Charlotte goes in depth on many different aspects of discrimination that she and other coworkers face. Some of these examples are that their supervisors treat them too harsh or unfairly compared to other employees. Lawsuits that deal with racial discrimination can really hurt ones company if they come out to be true. I feel that many companies are working hard to treat their employees fairly. Happy workers lead to positive outcomes. It can be difficult sometimes because not everyone sees the world the same way. I hope that whatever comes from this lawsuit is good for both sides.
After rereading all of my past systemic showcases I found this one to be the most important to me. Amazon was too “sexist” and “racist.” This is what Charlotte Newman had to say about Amazon. I found this situation to be similar to Poudel’s systemic justice showcase. The two showcases are very similar in that they both talk about unfairness. They talk about how some minorities have unfunded schools and don’t get the same education as some whites. Mine talks about the unfairness in the workplace and how a black employee is not treated the same as her white counterpart. I feel that these issue needs to be heard by more people. A company that is known worldwide, should be able to explain why some employees are not treated fairly and it needs to be fixed fast. For multiple employees to be discriminated against is very wrong and will hurt the company in many ways. I hope everyone sees how important this issue is and that if a large corporation is having problems with discrimination then it needs to be addressed and not swept under the rug. Amazon is well known and trusted by lots of people. I hope all of this can be fixed so that Amazon doesn’t have any future problems.
Black female Amazon manager sues, alleging sexism and racism – Chicago Tribune
Amazon sued by Black senior manager alleging sexual assault, discrimination (msn.com)
I really like this showcase because it highlights injustices in such a widely-known company that we all probably support, Amazon. This is not the first time I have heard about injustices in the company. There have been multiple reports over the last years of the unfair treatment toward their workers. This, however, is the first time I have heard about racial discrimination. Though it might feel impossible to take a stance against such a big company, Charlotte Newman deemed it necessary to speak out against the unfair treatment she has faced. I definitely admire her for her bravery. It is important to speak out about these things so the public can be aware of what goes on behind closed doors. It definitely makes you think about how much we mindlessly support a company that treats their workers so unfairly. I am sure Newman is not the only one that has experiences sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
I really enjoyed this systematic injustice showcase because it was something that I did not realize happened recently. I also did not expect something like this to have happened inside such a known company. I think many people have used Amazon at some point and this is very eye-opening and makes me question the company values. I have not heard of many cases that Amazon employees are facing racism and sexual assault. I am very glad that this showcase was brought to light and the woman who spoke out deserves much better than such horrible treatment. I want to pay closer attention to Amazon and how they hire their employees and what type of standard they hold them at because this as I said was very eye-opening for me.
Diversity within big companies is such a huge topic that most of these companies have entire departments just for it. Amazon is arguably the biggest company in the worst and it’s sad to see something like basic equality being threatened. This company needs to be a role model as lots of people and businesses look up to them for inspiration and ideas. I’ve read a bunch of stories of Amazon covering up these allegations of discrimination and inequality as well as poor working conditions. A lot of these cases end up getting settled out of court which benefits the person accusing Amazon, but this allows them to keep doing the same thing to other people that won’t speak out as easily. I liked your connection to the education systems and the inequalities that still exist, but I wish you could’ve found some space to connect this to something we’ve had in class before. Overall great post!
This is a very interesting and relevant context presentation! While reading, I was struck with just how important intersectionality is. Charlotte was not only experiencing racial discrimination, but also sexual harassment. It is always important to consider how one’s identities may interact with each other and form a basis for a person’s experience. I hope that Amazon pays for this disparity and adjusts their policies to help prevent this in the future.
Hi! I thought you did a great job showcasing a very relevant and systemic issue that needs more attention. Amazon is an extremely large corporation that many would be afraid to go up against, but knowing that Charlotte is fighting this injustice is inspiring. Racism and sexism in the workplace is a deep-rooted issue that many tend to overlook or ignore because it does not directly affect them. As a woman of color, I hope to never experience this injustice in a job that claims to care for me. I hope that by showing awareness and expresses the importance of this matter, we take the necessary steps to move in a better direction.
This topic and the example you gave is both very important and very current. The story about charlotte is a prime example of intersectionality. Because she is both black and a women both parts of her are intersecting so she is endures, both sexism and racism. This story saddens me, and even more so because I know this is only one of many many stories that are similar.
As has been noted, your context presentation did a great job of highlighting the intersectionality of social injustices and how black women particularly are discriminated against at exponential rates. Amazon is an excellent example of a system founded in capitalism that serves the needs and success of a white man, on the backs of people who have no choice. Amazon is a household name, with an annual revenue of over 386 billion, and every capacity to be a socially responsible company. Bezos fails to do that, and the company he created euphemizes the entire economy, benefiting the rich and white, while taking from the non-white.
Excellent showcase! I found it intriguing because Amazon is a company that all of us are very familiar with, and clearly they are struggling with keeping discrimination out of the workplace for their employees. Ms. Newman noted that it was important for her to speak up against Amazon not just for herself, but for other marginalized employees that are also experiencing discriminatory practices at their place of employment. Amazon, of all companies, should strive to have a very inclusive environment because they are in the public eye mostly always and a household name. However, I think because of their enormous client base and operation this can allow many issues to be swept under the rug.