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INTERVIEW: One-on-One with Judge Tammy Kemp — Amber Guyger Murder Trial

NNPA NEWSWIRE — I Messenger Media (Texas Metro News/Garland Journal/I Messenger) sat down recently with Judge Tammy Kemp to discuss criticism she has received as a result of her actions following the conclusion of the Amber Guyger murder trial last week.

Published

5 years ago

October 10, 2019

Oakland Post

Mother of Botham Jean, Mrs. Allison Jean, embraces Judge Tammy Kemp. (Photo: Cheryl Smith / I Messenger Media L.L.C.)

The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth

By Cheryl Smith, Publisher of Texas Metro News/I Messenger Media L.L.C.

I Messenger Media (Texas Metro News/Garland Journal/I Messenger) sat down recently with Judge Tammy Kemp to discuss criticism she has received as a result of her actions following the conclusion of the Amber Guyger murder trial last week. On October 1, 2019, Ms. Guyger, a former Dallas police officer, was convicted by a Dallas County jury of murder for fatally shooting 26-year-old Botham Shem Jean, in his apartment at the Southside Flats on September 6, 2018. Ms. Guyger claimed self-defense as she said she thought she was in her apartment and that Mr. Jean was an intruder. Mr. Jean’s apartment, #1478, was located on the fourth floor and Guyger’s apartment, #1378, was located directly beneath his on the third floor.

The jury found her guilty of murder and sentenced Ms. Guyger to serve 10 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. After Judge Kemp read the jury’s punishment verdict, she thanked the jury for their service, released them from the court’s previous restrictions regarding reading or watching coverage or engaging in/consuming social media content about the trial and offered contact information for counseling services should they find themselves in need of assistance following the trial.

The jury exited the courtroom, the trial was over and the court was officially off the record. However, as is customary in any case where there is a victim of a crime, the victim’s family has a right to make a victim impact statement to the defendant before he/she is transported from the courtroom. In this case, Brandt Jean, the 18-year-old brother of Botham Jean, took the witness stand to address Amber Guyger directly and delivered an undoubtedly unexpected, yet powerful message of forgiveness and love to the woman who took his brother’s life.

Then in a stunning turn of events, the victim’s brother asked Judge Kemp if he could “give her a hug.” He pleaded with Judge Kemp, “Please.” There was a brief pause of silence before Judge Kemp responded, “Yes.” Mr. Brandt descended from the witness stand and approached Ms. Guyger, who ran to him and they embraced and whispered to each other for a couple of minutes before releasing from the embrace and returning to their respective seats. Next Judge Kemp walked over to the Jean Family and after a short conversation, there were embraces.

The next exchange was between Judge Kemp and Ms. Guyger and also ended in an unexpected hug; one that not only sent shock waves across the nation but has drawn fire from the African American community in particular as well as a formal complaint filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

I Messenger reached out to Judge Kemp to provide the facts and set the record straight on several issues that were raised during and after the trial.

I Messenger: Explain the difference between a jury trial and a trial before the court.

Judge Kemp: In the State of Texas, a jury trial is when the accused has his or her case argued before a jury of 12 citizens. Jurors are selected by prosecutors (the State) and defense attorneys prior to the trial during the jury selection process. In a jury trial, the defendant has two decisions to make — who will decide guilt/innocence, the judge or a jury, and if convicted, who will decide punishment, again the judge or a jury.

In contrast, a trial before the court or TBC, is when a defendant has his or her case presented to the judge of a specific court and the judge decides both guilt/innocence and any associated punishment for that individual. Both the State and the defense have to agree to a trial before the Court. Just to be clear, the State vs. Amber Guyger was a jury trial in which the defendant, Ms. Guyger, decided to have both guilt/innocence and punishment decided by a jury.

I Messenger: One source of contention was your ruling to allow the jury to consider the Castle Doctrine during their deliberation on guilt/innocence. Considering that the law was actually intended for homeowners, like Botham Jean, to protect themselves and their homes against intruders, in this case, like Amber Guyger, why did you allow the Castle Doctrine in as a self-defense theory in the jury’s instructions on deliberation during the guilt/innocence phase of the trial?

Judge Kemp: While I do not comment on my rulings in any case, I would like to take this opportunity to educate people on the Castle Doctrine in general terms.

As it pertains to self-defense and deadly force, the Texas Penal Code states a defendant is entitled to a jury instruction on self-defense if the issue is raised by the evidence, whether that evidence is strong or weak, unimpeached or contradicted, and regardless of what the trial court may think about the credibility of the defense. If you deny a defendant their defense, the case will be reversed and then have to be retried.

I Messenger: What went through your mind in those brief seconds immediately after Brandt Jean asked you if he could give Amber Guyger a hug?

Judge Kemp: My first thought was the security risk. I quickly connected non-verbally with the deputies standing post inside the courtroom and made a split decision that Brandt Jean was sincere in his remarks to Ms. Guyger and that neither he nor Ms. Guyger intended any physical harm towards one another and allowed the contact between them to take place, and I knew I was going to have to explain my decision to Sheriff Brown.

I Messenger: You have been accused by some media outlets and the court of public opinion, particularly in the African American community, of disrespecting the victim’s family by coming off the bench to hug the woman who murdered Botham Jean and giving her a bible. Let’s set the record straight on the facts and what led up to the exchange and ultimate hug between you and Amber Guyger.

Judge Kemp: Like everyone else in the courtroom after witnessing the moving, emotional moment between Brandt Jean and Amber Guyger, I wiped my eyes, then came off the bench and went directly over to talk to Botham Jean’s family first.

I offered my condolences to Mr. Jean’s parents and shared words of comfort and encouragement with them before asking them if I could hug them, which they agreed to and I hugged each family member, father, mother, grandmother, sister and brother one by one. After I spent time with the victim’s family, I went over to the defense’s table and addressed Ms. Guyger. I told her, ‘Brandt has forgiven you. You have to forgive yourself.’ To which Ms. Guyger responded,

‘Do you think God will forgive me?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ Important to note, it was Ms. Guyger who first mentioned anything about religion. Then and only then, did I respond to her faith-based inquiry. Although I am a Christian, because of an individual’s religious freedom rights, I never discuss anything religious during the performance of my duties as a judge unless a victim or defendant mentions it to me first and again only after a trial or plea is officially completed.

I continued, ‘He has a purpose for you.’ She said, ‘You think I can have a purpose for my life?’ I said, ‘Yes’ and she said, ‘I don’t know where to start. I don’t own a bible.’ Her response prompted me to go to my chambers and retrieve the bible I keep in my office. I returned to the courtroom and told Ms. Guyger, ‘You can have this one. I have three or four more at home. This is the one I use at work every day.’ I turned to John 3:16 and read the scripture to her. I told her when you read this and you get to the ‘whosoever,’ you say ‘Amber.’

I told her she needs to read John 3:16 for the next month so it could sink in and then to start with the Gospels. I also told her that the translation that I gave her was difficult for new believers and she probably needed a study bible. I told her, ‘If you like, I will get one for you and get it to your defense team.’ She said, ‘yes’ and told me she would bring my bible back in 10 years. It was at that point, she asked, ‘Can I give you a hug?’ Honestly, I hesitated initially and here’s what ran through my mind in that instant. That Sunday, September 29th, which would have been Botham Jean’s 28th birthday, the sermon I heard at church was, The One is Greater Than the 99, which talked about if you are going to attract the lost, you must show love and compassion. Additionally,

I thought about my job responsibilities as it pertains to my faith, and I have a duty to act justly, love mercy and to walk humbly. Ms. Guyger asked me a second time for a hug and I agreed. As she was hugging me, she was telling me that I was such a good person and I was fair and good. Contrary to speculation, I was not praying with her.

I Messenger: Have you ever hugged any other defendants in your court following the conclusion of a trial or plea in your court?

Judge Kemp: I have hugged a lot of defendants, but I have never been asked for a hug by a defendant convicted of a violent offense before and I have never hugged one defendant who did not ask me for a hug. On any given day in the 204th District Court, however, I routinely counsel defendants on forgiveness and second chances. As a matter of fact, a lot of the defendants that I have ended up hugging were initially angry with me because I would not just give them their time. Instead, when necessary, I required them to go to treatment and after they completed treatment they would come back and thank me.

I Messenger: Continuing on that note of second chances, tell us about Project Phoenix.

Judge Kemp: In my first year on the bench in 2014, I founded Project Phoenix in partnership with the Dallas AFL-CIO to provide marketable skills through apprenticeships in the various trade industries to first-time, non-violent low-level offenders. Upon successful completion of the program, offenders’ cases are dismissed and later expunged from their records. My primary goal in creating this program was to make sure participants could earn a living wage and have a true second chance.

I Messenger: One of the female bailiffs has also come under fire for what appears as if the bailiff is fixing or caressing Amber Guyger’s hair. What was happening?

Judge Tammy Kemp: The jury returned a verdict of guilty and I held Ms. Guyger’s bond insufficient. At that point, she was in the custody of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and no longer free to move about.

I instructed the Sheriff’s deputies to restrict Ms. Guyger’s movement to the defense workroom, the courtroom and the restroom. Typically, once a defendant has been convicted, they are transported to the county jail to be booked and processed – a process that can take up to three hours. Instead, I asked that they detain her in the courtroom to ensure we did not experience any delays in the trial.

What people saw in that moment was actually the bailiff doing a moderate pat down of the defendant and discreetly checking her hair for contraband.

I Messenger: After the trial there were protests and criticism by those who believed 10 years was not enough time for the fatal shooting of Botham Jean. Do you believe the sentence was fair given the testimony in this case?

Judge Kemp: That is a question for the jurors. As with any case, I respect the jury’s verdict. I never question or comment on a jury’s decision.

I Messenger: Could you as the judge, have overturned the jury’s sentence and given the defendant a longer sentence?

Judge Kemp: No, by law I could not overturn the jury’s verdict. Again, once a defendant decides to go before the jury to decide guilt/innocence and punishment, the jury’s verdicts in both phases of a trial are the final decisions.

I Messenger: A photo of your political endorsement from the Dallas Police Association (DPA) Political Action Committee has been circulating on social media and many voiced disapproval of the endorsement. In terms of the timeline, when did you receive the DPA’s endorsement relative to when Mr. Jean was killed?

Judge Kemp: The Dallas Police Association’s Political Action Committee endorsed both my first campaign in 2014 and my campaign for reelection in 2018, just as they endorse multiple judicial candidates in every election cycle. During my last election, DPA announced their endorsement of my campaign for re-election in the fall of 2017. Amber Guyger shot and killed Mr. Botham Jean on September 6, 2018. Obviously, no one could have predicted this horrific tragedy would occur a year later, long after the organization endorsed my campaign.

I Messenger: On October 3, 2019, the Freedom from Religion Foundation filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission, against you for the now ‘infamous hug.’ Do you believe your actions were inappropriate?

Judge Kemp: Obviously, I do not think it was inappropriate, but I will leave that decision to the Ethics Commission.

I Messenger: On October 4, 2019, you summoned Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot to appear before the 204th Judicial District Court for a contempt of court hearing that is scheduled to take place on October 31st. What is the purpose of this hearing and why do you believe it is necessary?

Judge Kemp: On September 23, the very first day of trial, as the attorneys and I were wrapping up preliminary matters outside the presence of the jury, Amber Guyger’s defense team informed the court that our elected DA had appeared in a new television interview alleging that it was in direct violation of the court’s gag order prohibiting both the prosecutors and defense lawyers from speaking publicly about the case and/or trial in any way.

It was determined and confirmed that the DA’s interview on FOX 4 News was not taped the night before the beginning of trial, but in fact had been taped on September 20, 2019, which was three days before the trial was set to begin. Due to the high volume of media coverage on this case, I had put a gag order in place in January of this year for all parties involved in the case. In general, the purpose of a court’s gag order on any case is to prohibit the parties from trying their case in the public.

A contempt of court hearing, also known as a show cause hearing, requires the alleged violator to appear before the court and explain why he/she did not adhere to the court’s order(s). I believe it is necessary in this case, just as it would be with any case, because court orders are meant to be followed, no exceptions. Additionally, with all of the hard work that went into this case on both sides, it was pretty shocking to learn that the order had allegedly been violated, a decision that technically could have resulted in a mistrial before the trial even started, had any of the jurors seen the interview.

However, after I watched the interview, I polled each juror individually and confirmed that none of them had seen it and the trial proceeded accordingly.

I Messenger: What would you like for people to know about the 204th Court?

Judge Kemp: I want people to know that we treat everyone with compassionate accountability in our court. My principles for running were to be accountable to the public, compassionate towards victims and fair to the accused, and we’ve made those principles the bedrock of everything we do in court.

Tammy Kemp is the presiding Judge of the 204th Judicial District Court. There has been a transformation and many successes since she took the bench. Judge Kemp is a native of Wewoka, OK and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and a Juris Doctorate degree from OU. After graduating law school, she worked as an Assistant Attorney General and an Assistant Secretary of State for the State of Oklahoma, before relocating to the Dallas area.

She has been practicing law since 1988 and her areas of expertise include criminal, corporate and retirement law. In her previous role of Administrative Chief of the Family Violence and Child Abuse Divisions at the Dallas County District Attorney’s (DA) Office, she supervised 28 attorneys, 21 investigators, and 18 support staff. Her duties included the investigation and prosecution of criminal offenses, including death penalty capital murders.

She is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the State Bar of Oklahoma and has been a member of Concord Church for more than 26 years, where she serves as a Deaconess. A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Judge Kemp is married to a wonderful, supportive husband and they have three amazing children.

This article originally appeared in the Texas Metro News.

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Reading and Moving: Great Ways to Help Children Grow

NNPA NEWSWIRE — In these formative years, your little one will learn to walk, learn how to grab and hold items, begin building their muscle strength, and more. Here are some ways to facilitate positive motor development at home:

Published

4 weeks ago

September 9, 2024

Oakland Post

Council for Professional Recognition

Before a child even steps into a classroom or childcare center, their first life lessons occur within the walls of their home. During their formative years, from birth to age five, children undergo significant cognitive, motor, and behavioral development. As their primary guides and first teachers, parents, and guardians play a pivotal role in fostering these crucial aspects of growth.

The Council for Professional Recognition, a nonprofit, is dedicated to supporting parents and families in navigating questions about childcare and education training. In keeping with its goal of meeting the growing need for qualified early childcare and education staff, the Council administers the Child Development Associate (CDA). The CDA program is designed to assess and credential early childhood education professionals. This work gives the Council great insights into child development.

Cognitive Development: Building the Foundation of Learning

Cognitive development lays the groundwork for a child’s ability to learn, think, reason, and solve problems.

Read Together: One of the most powerful tools for cognitive development is reading. It introduces children to language, expands their vocabulary, and sparks imagination. Make reading a daily ritual by choosing age-appropriate books that capture their interest.
Play Together: Play is a child’s entry to the physical, social, and affective worlds. It’s a critical and necessary tool in the positive cognitive development of young children and is directly linked to long-term academic success.
Dance and Sing Together: These types of activities help young children develop spatial awareness and lead to improved communication skills. As a bonus, it’s also helpful for improving gross motor skills.
Invite your Child to Help you in the Kitchen: It’s a fun activity to do together and helps establish a basic understanding of math and lifelong healthy eating practices.
Encourage Questions: As children find their voice, they also find their curiosity for the world around them; persuade them to ask questions and then patiently provide answers.

Motor Development: Mastering Movement Skills

Motor development involves the refinement of both gross and fine motor skills, which are essential for physical coordination and independence. In these formative years, your little one will learn to walk, learn how to grab and hold items, begin building their muscle strength, and more. Here are some ways to facilitate positive motor development at home:

Tummy Time: Starting from infancy, incorporate daily tummy time sessions to strengthen neck and upper body muscles, promoting eventual crawling and walking. You can elevate the tummy time experience by:
- Giving children lots of open-ended toys to explore like nesting bowls, a pail and shovel, building blocks, wooden animals, and people figures.
- Hanging artwork on the wall that appeals to infants, including bold colors, clear designs, and art from various cultures.
- Providing mobiles that children can move safely and observe shapes and colors.
Outdoor Play: Provide opportunities for outdoor play, whether it’s at a park, playground, or in a backyard. Activities such as running, jumping, climbing, and swinging enhance gross motor skills while allowing children to connect with nature. Also, try gardening together! Not only does gardening promote motor skill development, but it offers many other benefits for young children including stress management, cognitive and emotional development, sensory development, and increased interest in math, sciences, and healthy eating.
Fine Motor Activities: Fine motor skills relate to movement of the hands and upper body, as well as vision. Activities that encourage hand-eye coordination and fine motor skill development include:
- Drawing and coloring
- Doing puzzles, with size and piece amounts dependent on the age of the child
- Dropping items or threading age-appropriate beads on strings
- Stacking toys
- Shaking maracas
- Using age-appropriate, blunt scissors
- Playing with puppets or playdough

This is the type of knowledge that early childhood educators who’ve earned a Child Development Associate credential exhibit as they foster the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive growth of young children.

Supporting Early Childhood Educators

Recently, a decision in Delaware has helped early childhood professionals further their efforts to apply this type of knowledge. Delaware State University, Delaware Technical Community College, and Wilmington University have signed agreements to award 12 credits for current and incoming students who hold the Child Development Associate credential.

Delaware Governor John Carney said, “I applaud the Department of Education and our higher education partners for this agreement, which will support our early childhood educators. Research shows how important early childhood education is to a child’s future success. This new agreement will help individuals earn their degrees and more quickly get into classrooms to do the important work of teaching our youngest learners in Delaware.”

Council for Professional Recognition CEO Calvin E. Moore, Jr., said his organization is honored to be a part of this partnership.

“Delaware and the work of these institutions is a model that other states should look to. This initiative strengthens the early childhood education workforce by accelerating the graduation of more credentialed educators, addressing the critical need for qualified educators in early childhood education. We have already seen the impact the work of the Early Childhood Innovation Center has brought to the children of Delaware.”

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Student Loan Debt Drops $10 Billion Due to Biden Administration Forgiveness

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The Center for American Progress estimates the interest waiver provisions would deliver relief to roughly 6 million Black borrowers, or 23 percent of the estimated number of borrowers receiving relief, as well as 4 million Hispanic or Latino borrowers (16 percent) and 13.5 million white borrowers (53 percent).

Published

4 weeks ago

September 9, 2024

Charlene Crowell NNPA Newswire Columnist

New Education Department Rules hold hope for 30 million more borrowers

By Charlene Crowell, The Center for Responsible Lending

As consumers struggle to cope with mounting debt, a new economic report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York includes an unprecedented glimmer of hope. Although debt for mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and more increased by billions of dollars in the second quarter of 2024, student loan debt decreased by $10 billion.

According to the New York Fed, borrowers ages 40-49 and ages 18-29 benefitted the most from the reduction in student loan debt.

In a separate and recent independent finding, 57 percent of Black Americans hold more than $25,000 in student loan debt compared to 47 percent of Americans overall, according to The Motley Fool’s analysis of student debt by geography, age and race. Black women have an average of $41,466 in undergraduate student loan debt one year after graduation, more than any other group and $10,000 more than men.

This same analysis found that Washington, DC residents carried the highest average federal student loan debt balance, with $54,146 outstanding per borrower. Americans holding high levels of student debt lived in many of the nation’s most populous states – including California, Texas, and Florida.

The Fed’s recent finding may be connected to actions taken by the Biden administration to rein in unsustainable debt held by people who sought higher education as a way to secure a better quality of life. This decline is even more noteworthy in light of a series of legal roadblocks to loan forgiveness. In response to these legal challenges, the Education Department on August 1 began emailing all borrowers of an approaching August 30 deadline to contact their loan servicer to decline future financial relief. Borrowers preferring to be considered for future relief proposed by pending departmental regulations should not respond.

If approved as drafted, the new rules would benefit over 30 million borrowers, including those who have already been approved for debt cancellation over the past three years.

“These latest steps will mark the next milestone in our efforts to help millions of borrowers who’ve been buried under a mountain of student loan interest, or who took on debt to pay for college programs that left them worse off financially, those who have been paying their loans for twenty or more years, and many others,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

The draft rules would benefit borrowers with either partial or full forgiveness in the following categories:

Borrowers who owe more now than they did at the start of repayment. This category is expected to largely benefit nearly 23 million borrowers, the majority of whom are Pell Grant recipients.
Borrowers who have been in repayment for decades. Borrowers of both undergraduate and graduate loans who began repayment on or before July 1, 2000 would qualify for relief in this category.
Borrowers who are otherwise eligible for loan forgiveness but have not yet applied. If a borrower hasn’t successfully enrolled in an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan but would be eligible for immediate forgiveness, they would be eligible for relief. Borrowers who would be eligible for closed school discharge or other types of forgiveness opportunities but haven’t successfully applied would also be eligible for this relief.
Borrowers who enrolled in low-financial value programs. If a borrower attended an institution that failed to provide sufficient financial value, or that failed one of the Department’s accountability standards for institutions, those borrowers would also be eligible for debt relief.

Most importantly, if the rules become approved as drafted, no related application or actions would be required from eligible borrowers — so long as they did not opt out of the relief by the August 30 deadline.

“The regulations would deliver on unfulfilled promises made by the federal government to student loan borrowers over decades and offer remedies for a dysfunctional system that has often created a financial burden, rather than economic mobility, for student borrowers pursuing a better future,” stated the Center for American Progress in an August 7 web article. “Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration also introduced income limits and caps on relief to ensure the borrowers who can afford to pay the full amount of their debts do so.”

“The Center for American Progress estimates the interest waiver provisions would deliver relief to roughly 6 million Black borrowers, or 23 percent of the estimated number of borrowers receiving relief, as well as 4 million Hispanic or Latino borrowers (16 percent) and 13.5 million white borrowers (53 percent).”

These pending regulations would further expand the $168.5 billion in financial relief that the Biden Administration has already provided to borrowers:

$69.2 billion for 946,000 borrowers through fixes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
$51 billion for more than 1 million borrowers through administrative adjustments to IDR payment counts. These adjustments have brought borrowers closer to forgiveness and addressed longstanding concerns with the misuse of forbearance by loan servicers.
$28.7 billion for more than 1.6 million borrowers who were cheated by their schools, saw their institutions precipitously close, or are covered by related court settlements.
$14.1 billion for more than 548,000 borrowers with a total and permanent disability.
$5.5 billion for 414,000 borrowers through the SAVE Plan.

More information for borrowers about this debt relief is available at StudentAid.gov/debt-relief.

Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

Charlene Crowell NNPA Newswire Columnist

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Congressional Black Caucus Releases Groundbreaking Corporate Accountability Report on DEI

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Most Fortune 500 companies participating in the CBC’s survey demonstrated their commitment to DEI even after the Supreme Court’s ruling. CBC members said this is crucial because conservative organizations, such as Stephen Miller-led America First Legal, are increasingly waging legal and political attacks against corporations’ diversity initiatives. These groups argue that DEI initiatives violate federal law, threatening legal action against companies that continue to promote workplace diversity.

Published

4 weeks ago

September 9, 2024

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chairman Steven Horsford (NV-04) and CBC members have released a first-of-its-kind report titled “What Good Looks Like: A Corporate Accountability Report on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” The report aims to hold Fortune 500 companies accountable for their commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the racial justice movement that followed. This initiative comes as corporate America faces renewed scrutiny following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action in the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard case.

The CBC’s report highlights which corporations are making tangible progress in advancing DEI and offers a roadmap for other companies to follow. Despite efforts from right-wing groups to dismantle diversity initiatives, the report finds that many Fortune 500 companies are standing firm in their commitments. The report also examines DEI practices in manufacturing, finance, insurance, and technology sectors, providing industry-specific insights.

Most Fortune 500 companies participating in the CBC’s survey demonstrated their commitment to DEI even after the Supreme Court’s ruling. CBC members said this is crucial because conservative organizations, such as Stephen Miller-led America First Legal, are increasingly waging legal and political attacks against corporations’ diversity initiatives. These groups argue that DEI initiatives violate federal law, threatening legal action against companies that continue to promote workplace diversity.

The Findings

The CBC’s report offers a detailed analysis of diversity efforts across various industries, using data from the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Key findings include:

Sector Representation: The bulk of the responses came from companies in manufacturing (31%), finance and insurance (25%), and information (16%).
Best Practices: The report identifies 12 best practices, including leadership accountability, data disaggregation, talent retention, and pay equity. These examples provide a model for other companies to implement DEI strategies effectively.
Progress and Challenges: While many companies have made significant strides, persistent gaps remain, particularly in leadership diversity and retention rates. The report encourages corporations to move beyond public statements and implement measurable DEI outcomes.

The CBC hopes the report will serve as a tool for corporations to benchmark their progress and adopt more robust DEI measures. “What Good Looks Like” outlines not only where companies are succeeding but also where opportunities for improvement lie, urging corporate leaders to align their actions with their stated DEI values.

Conservative Backlash and the Fight for DEI

Officials said the CBC’s efforts to hold corporations accountable come amid heightened political tensions. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, Donald Trump and his supporters have escalated their attacks on DEI programs. Right-wing legal campaigns have targeted not only corporate diversity efforts but also federal programs aimed at leveling the playing field for Black and minority-owned businesses.

Conservative attorneys general from over a dozen states have warned Fortune 500 companies, threatening legal action over their diversity programs. Additionally, anti-DEI bills have been introduced in more than 30 states, aiming to restrict diversity efforts in college admissions and the workplace.

Despite the attacks, the CBC said it remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing racial and economic equity. In December 2023, the CBC sent Fortune 500 companies an accountability letter urging them to uphold their DEI commitments in the face of political pressure, which catalyzed the report.

Corporate America’s response has been overwhelmingly positive. Since the CBC’s letter, companies have held over 50 meetings with CBC representatives, affirming their dedication to diversity. The CBC has also convened discussions with industry trade associations and hosted a briefing with more than 300 Fortune 500 company representatives to strengthen collaboration on DEI efforts.

Moving Forward

The CBC’s report is not just a reflection on past efforts but a call to action for the future. It highlights the importance of cross-industry learning, encouraging companies to share best practices and build upon one another’s successes. The CBC also recommends that corporations adopt consistent performance metrics to track progress and foster accountability.

Looking ahead, the CBC plans to push for more economic opportunities for Black Americans, focusing on closing the racial wealth gap. Horsford emphasized that DEI is not only a moral imperative but also an economic one. Research from McKinsey & Company shows that racially diverse companies outperform their peers by 39% in profitability, further underscoring the business case for diversity.

The CBC’s report offers a roadmap for companies committed to fostering a more inclusive and equitable future despite political and legal challenges.

“Following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, we witnessed a nationwide response calling for long-overdue justice and accountability,” Horsford wrote in the report. “Millions of Americans flooded the streets in protest to advocate for an end to the cycles of violence against Black Americans that are perpetuated by systemic racism ingrained deeply in the United States.

“Now, in order to move forward and achieve the goals of these commitments, we must evaluate where we are and stay the course. We cannot allow a handful of right-wing agitators to bully corporations away from their promises.”