Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser is making big structural changes, Coco Gauff's U.S. Open earned record viewership, and Stacey Abrams has a message for companies going silent on D&I amid lawsuits. Enjoy your Thursday!
- Silence speaks volumes. The recent spate of lawsuits against organizations that support diversity and inclusion, from law firms to the Fearless Fund, has led some companies to hide their heads in the sand, hoping to avoid becoming a target.
That's a mistake, says Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia House minority leader and Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Abrams, who is also an attorney, talked about the hot-button issue with Fortune CEO Alan Murray at the Fortune Impact Initiative conference in Atlanta yesterday. (She also discussed her role as senior counsel for Rewiring America, a nonprofit that helps communities go electric.)
"There's no way to avoid being sued," she said. "There's so many who are going silent, hoping that if they just stand still and keep their mouth shut, no one will notice them," she added. "They've already found you. They know who you are. It is more important that we band together."
Anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum is backing the lawsuits. He successfully sued Harvard, convincing the Supreme Court to overturn affirmative action in college admissions. Then he went after the tech ecosystem, suing the small Atlanta-based Fearless Fund for the grants it awards to Black women. Another lawsuit targets law firms that offer fellowships to diverse candidates, accusing the firms of discriminating against straight white men. Blum says he has more suits planned.
"Lawsuits are designed not for victory, but for a chilling effect," Abrams says. And the scary part is that "it's working," she adds.
Though it might be tempting, silence isn't an effective strategy. "Silence is often seen as consent. We are agreeing to the attacks," she says. Business executives should know that better than anyone. "When your competitor is putting their narrative into the air and you are silent, your competitor wins," she says. "This is not about changing your value system—it's about articulating your values."
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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