Black History Month is Over, and So is Corporate “Support”

Isabelle K.

Every February, corporate America remembers Black people exist. Every March, it forgets again. Bless its heart.

As a Black student, I’ve watched February come and go sixteen times; the pattern never changes.

Black squares go up, limited collections drop, and diversity pledges get announced. Everyone suddenly wants to be socially conscious and "woke."  Then March 1st arrives, and the instagram posts stop, the collections quietly disappear, and corporations go back to whatever they were doing before they remembered we exist. It’s basically predictable enough for you to set your watch to.

But 2026 looks different. February 1st arrives this year, and it’s…silent?  

 Many brands didn’t even bother with the performance. No collections. No pledges. No black squares. Just silence, yet somehow that silence is more honest than anything I’ve seen them post.    

Before now, these brands' “support” has been held by one thin thread: DEI. Which is the closest corporations have gotten to taking accountability voluntarily. 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was an incentive following George Floyd’s death that quickly became the corporate trend of the century in 2020.  Companies suddenly started to “prioritize” Inclusive hiring, and pay equity. However, as quickly as this trend rose, slander and backlash rose quicker. 

Critics began claiming that when any Black person would get hired in an all-White workplace, they were solely a “diversity token” or a “shameful” DEI hire. 

Apparently I'm supposed to be offended by the concept. I’m not. In fact, I think I’d rather  be a “DEI hire” than not be considered at all. In a system supposedly run on "merit" but somehow simultaneously built to exclude me and a billion others with the same skin color, it’s not absurd to want an “easy” seat at the table. A system can’t truly be merit-based if not everyone has the same starting line. More accurately, DEI is not an “easy” seat, nor is it asking for a handout; it's asking for the bare minimum.

 Basic inclusion isn’t a luxury; it’s just normal treatment that’s been delayed for far too long. 

If the only way through the door was being a "token," then the shame shouldn't fall on the employee. It falls on the company. People need to remember who made the door so heavy to begin with. 

 With the push of this criticism and diversity itself becoming "controversial" (AKA: politically inconvenient), brands and corporations have abandoned their commitments quicker than you could blink. 

DEI wasn’t perfect, but it was something. USA Today has an updated running list of these brands. It mentions well-known companies like Amazon, Ford, and McDonald’s as a part of the rollback list. It’s  long enough to be exhausting.  But this is only because DEI is "controversial."  Obviously not because it no longer serves their purpose of profit.

In 2020 there was no law requiring brands to push and maintain DEI. There’s no current law that is making it necessary for brands to push back. No punishment. No reward.