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“It was exhausting to be a Black person.”
Malcolm W., Associate General Counsel at Meta, describes how he felt during the summer of 2020 with both unmistakable pain and focused determination in his voice. “It was exhausting to come to work and pretend this wasn’t happening.”
Over the course of that summer, millions of people grieved the tragic loss of the lives of so many Black people—and the collective trauma reverberated around the world. “People were outraged,” remembers Malcolm. “I wanted to channel that energy into something good and to make a meaningful impact both at Meta and in the community.”
Malcolm W., Associate General Counsel
As global protests erupted to demand long-overdue racial justice, many teams throughout Meta had already begun taking action on advocacy initiatives to build more equity through our products and technologies, for our workforce and in our communities. Malcolm spurred his colleagues on the Meta Legal team to action. Their goal? To help turn the anguish from the moment’s tragedies into a powerful movement to inspire lasting change across the country. “That time period was a tipping point for a lot of people, here in the US and across the world,” adds Malcolm’s colleague Nicole B., Associate General Counsel. “Malcolm immediately mobilized us.”
“I wanted to channel that energy into something good and to make a meaningful impact both at Meta and in the community.”
Nicole B., Associate General Counsel
Together, the Legal team formed a new Black@ Legal Racial Justice Task Force. The Task Force spearheads projects that take meaningful action against injustice and provides opportunities for Legal team members to contribute to those initiatives through working groups dedicated to five different areas of focus: election protection, events and education, outside counsel partnerships, pro bono work and racial justice partnerships.
Taking meaningful action against injustice: 5 focus areas
1. Election protection
The election protection working group partners with external organizations, such as the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, to combat voter suppression and support election protection efforts in communities of color, ensuring lasting impact far beyond any one election day. They also support efforts to staff election protection hotlines, text banks and polling places, and help educate the broader Legal team on how racial justice impacts voting.
“Election Day was the culmination of months-long support for voter initiatives,”remembers Karla H., election protection group chair. “We were on the front lines and saw the impact on the electorate directly. We witnessed how engaged people were and how they were experiencing the ability to exercise their vote in ways they wouldn’t otherwise have. It was very inspiring.”
Karla H., Associate General Counsel
2. Events & education
The events & education group, co-chaired by Yodi H. and Rob C., works to shed light on racial injustices and other issues impacting communities of color through events and educational initiatives on topics like microaggressions, cross-racial friendships, intersectionality, navigating tough conversations at work or using technology to shape the future of diversity and inclusion programs.
Yodi H., Associate General Counsel
“We were thinking about the areas of need and how we could make an immediate impact first,” explains Yodi. “We wanted to bring to light issues and topics of immediate concern—but also create programs around topics that are interesting, engaging and challenging to the traditional ways of thinking about these subjects.”
“Meta’s mission is to connect people to communities and build communities,” adds Rob. “As communities, we’re very diverse. To me, the fact that we have a committee highlights the gaps in terms of how we define community and participate in community. I see the role of this task force as strengthening Meta’s mission internally.”
“We wanted to bring to light issues and topics of immediate concern—but also create programs around topics that are interesting, engaging and challenging to the traditional ways of thinking about these subjects.”
Rob C., Associate General Counsel
3. Outside counsel partnerships
This group partners with law firms to provide resources and assistance to racial justice organizations and initiatives, focusing on initiatives like continuing legal education programming and driving more accountability for delivering on racial justice objectives.
When kicking off this group’s work, group chair Alysia D. saw the potential power of partnering with Meta’s external legal partners—some of the best legal experts in the world—to get involved with racial justice and equity initiatives. “We looked at different firms to identify who was already actively involved in similar initiatives and had made public statements in support of racial justice initiatives,” Alysia says. “We reached out, explained what we were doing and asked if they wanted to get involved. The reception has been inspiring.”
Alysia D., Associate General Counsel
4. Pro Bono
The pro bono group focuses on long-term and sustained advocacy and support for racial justice initiatives, and they’ve already made a significant impact. They’re working with organizations like the Promise of Justice Institute to help challenge non-unanimous jury verdicts likely influenced by systemic racism, and they’re partnering with the ACLU of Louisiana to review cases related to police brutality largely motivated by racism. They’re also helping to provide support to entrepreneurs.
“There’s nothing new about the tragedy of people of color being killed by police,” shares Harvey W., chair of the pro bono task force. “The issues from the summer of 2020 brought up conversations I wasn’t used to having at work. Malcolm wanted to bring the legal team together to promote racial justice, and I wanted to do more than be angry. This was an incredible opportunity to blend those two things together.”
Harvey W., Associate General Counsel
5. Partnerships
Focusing on establishing partnerships with organizations dedicated to supporting police reform efforts and eliminating racial inequities in the criminal justice system and society, the Partnerships group has worked with organizations, like Root and Rebound, that help people reenter society upon release from the criminal justice system. They've supported efforts to provide legal representation to inmates during parole proceedings. They’ve collaborated with the NAACP and ACLU on other issues related to civil rights. And they’re helping future generations of lawyers prepare for work in the racial justice field by offering mock trials to law students at universities.
“Partnering with these organizations provides them with resources to help further their mission and amplify their message while giving our team a chance to take action,” explains Brandon L., chair of the partnerships group.
Brandon L., Associate General Counsel
Coming together to change lives
While Malcolm helped drive the task force’s formation, the group’s work is a truly collaborative effort deeply rooted in combating injustices. This passion is shared by all the group’s members—lawyers and others, from all corners of the world and many Meta teams—who’ve freely given their time to help fight injustice.
"Although I'm not an attorney, I’m still able to contribute in a meaningful way,” shares Task Force volunteer Giuliana Garcia, a program manager on Meta’s Legal team. “The Black community unfortunately continues to suffer as a result of systemic racism. I'm grateful to the Racial Justice Task Force to allow me to play a small part in this work that has the very real possibility of changing someone's life.”
"The Racial Justice Task Force is something I have not seen in any legal department before,” remarks Sonya Johnston, Director and Associate General Counsel at Meta. “The collective talent, passion, resourcefulness and creativity of everyone on the task force should be used as a benchmark and gold standard for legal departments everywhere. They’ve created the infrastructure and a legacy to help fight against racial injustice for Meta, the broader legal community and our society at large."
Building connections to bring hope
“We’re making connections with those who are unconnected in many ways,” explains Nicole. “The forgotten people. The people who, in some cases, society has given up on. This is largely because many of them never stood a fair chance. We want to give those people hope—to help them understand the law and their fundamental rights.”
“When we created this Task Force, we recognized that, as lawyers, we have a special skill set,” Malcolm shares. “And history has shown that our skill set has been a catalyst for change. Cultivating change is a slow grind, and significant change won’t happen overnight. But we now have a meaningful and productive way to channel our collective voices and energy to address the issues plaguing our country. And for that, I’m so grateful.”
“We’re making connections with those who are unconnected in many ways”
This post, originally published on April 13, 2021, was updated on September 8, 2022, to reflect our shift to Meta and new details about team members, roles and responsibilities.
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