The SCLC SEEKS MEETING WITH NIELSEN TO HELP MEDIATE CHARGES OF RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION
The SCLC SEEKS MEETING WITH NIELSEN TO HELP MEDIATE CHARGES OF RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION
Dr. Charles Steele, Jr., SCLC’s President and CEO, said the Global Data and Measurement Corporation Cannot Abandon Industry Leading Diversity and Inclusion Practices
ATLANTA – Concerned that some global corporations are retreating on efforts to address racism and discrimination in the workplace, Dr. Charles Steele, Jr., president and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), announced today that he will seek a meeting with top executives at Nielsen to help mediate a discrimination lawsuit filed by Cheryl Grace, one of its long-term, senior Black female executives.
Dr. Steele said the SCLC will also request Nielsen's most recent EEO-1 Report, a detailed record of Nielsen's employees based on job category, gender, and race/ethnicity, which is required by the federal government.
“The EEO-1 Report should shed some additional light on what is happening inside Nielsen,” said Dr. Steele, who heads the civil rights organization that was co-founded and first led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “We hope Nielsen, a company our community has come to respect, because of Grace’s exceptional work in our community, has not dropped the ball when it comes to treating all its employees fairly.”
Dr. Steele, who is mediating other lawsuits across the nation, added, “We are seeing a number of our major corporations, like Bank of America, McDonalds, Amazon and Uber, being hit with lawsuits. This is a trend we must prevent. Our outgoing president, Donald Trump, has sent a terrible message that all is well in America. He has used his executive powers to stop companies from discussing the race issue, but we know that discriminatory practices and systemic racism have been a part of our nation from the very beginning and all Americans must take steps to eradicate it, because racism spreads like a disease. It is as dangerous as Covid-19.”
Last month, Grace, Nielsen's Senior Vice President of U.S. Strategic Community Alliance and Consumer Engagement, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, charging the 97-year-old global data and measurement corporation with racism and creating a hostile work environment. Grace said she was marginalized after she engaged with the CEO David Kenny, who is also the Chief Diversity Officer, about racism and career advancement. Despite building Nielsen’s brand in communities of color, Grace has held the senior vice president title for 13 of her 16 years at the company. The lawsuit has received widespread media coverage because Grace has been the face of the company in communities of color. She produces a series of annual reports, which include data on the buying power of Blacks, Hispanic and Asians in America, which is widely used by organizations.
Dr. Steele said he is disappointed by the turn of events at Nielsen, especially since the company appeared a leader in diversity and inclusion. The Grace versus Nielsen case, he said, is a vivid example that people of color cannot rest on laurels thinking that Dr. King’s dream for an America where people are not judged by the color of their skin has been achieved. Since 2018, Nielsen has changed CEOs, shuffled its leadership, has become a revolving door for Black executives and has announced a company split. The company is moving backwards during a period when leading CEOs have announced plans to lend their voices and their company’s financial resources to address social injustices and right the wrongs in America. But the lawsuits against companies like Nielsen have sounded an alarm that some leaders might be abandoning efforts to courageously address systemic racism in their companies.
Dr. Steele said the SCLC wants to implore the six steps of the Kingian philosophy, which Dr. King established to settle disputes peacefully and nonviolently.
“The first step is to gather information,” Dr. Steele said. “The second step is to educate the public. The third step, after we gather the information, is for Nielsen to make a personal commitment to work with us to change the culture. After Nielsen makes a personal commitment, the fourth step is to negotiate and come to a fair agreement. If nothing comes out of the negotiation, we use direct action. The sixth step is to reconcile. This has been the SCLC’s history and track record to always reconcile.”
Dr. Steele added, “As Dr. King said, ‘Silence in the face of evil is evil itself’. Our employees and our leaders can no longer be silent when they see injustice, discrimination, and racism. Everyone must speak out. There is no going back.”
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