Today shareholder activists will challenge Apple’s corporate leadership to show the value of their woke Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) policies.
During the company’s annual shareholder meeting, Ethan Peck, an associate with the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP), will present a shareholder proposal requesting that Apple conduct an audit of their Inclusion and Diversity initiatives (or DEI, as it is commonly called), and make these findings public.
Apple’s leaders are advising investors to vote against FEP’s proposal, citing their own ongoing civil rights audit being conducted by former Obama Administration Attorney General Eric Holder. They also claim their DEI approach is valid because it is “based on the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as well as feedback from civil and human rights organizations and other stakeholders.”
FEP’s Proposal 5, and Apple’s response to it, can be read on page 79 of Apple’s proxy statement by clicking here.
Through FEP’s proposal, Apple has an opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of its progressive policies and the value they offer for shareholders of Apple’s nearly 16 billion outstanding shares.
“Apple does in fact take DEI seriously. But that is exactly the problem, because although DEI sounds so benign, in a very Orwellian sense, it translates to the opposite,” added Peck. “DEI is overtly bigoted against men, white people and straight people by falsely assuming that they are inherently – and irredeemably – racist and sexist oppressors.”
“However, these initiatives are also bigoted against women, blacks, LGBT people, people with disabilities and other racial minorities by wrongly assuming that they’re inherently powerless victims who can’t succeed on their own,” Peck said. “No matter the justification, it’s wrong to discriminate on the basis of race, sex and orientation, and according to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it’s also illegal.”
