IBM Diversity & Inclusion — A Record of 2020
Emb(race)
IBM's response to the racial reckoning of 2020 — a commitment to go further than acknowledgment, documented as it happened.
Context
The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd brought the reality of racism to the center of public life in 2020.
IBM responded with conversation, commitment, creative work, and dollars.
This is a record of that response.
2020 demanded more than good intentions. IBM chose to meet it.
IBM Emb(race) launched June 1, 2020 with a personal pledge — and grew into a structured commitment spanning internal education, open-source technology, supplier reform, policy advocacy, and creative work. It was built with Black IBMers, not handed down to them.
The campaign gave platform to personal stories of race, matched donations to anti-discrimination charities, and put the seven-part pledge into the hands of IBMers in every time zone. What's here is the record of a company that decided action was the only acceptable answer.
Red — Blood shed for liberation and the unity of Black African ancestry.
Yellow — The richness of the African people, mineral wealth, and hope.
Green — The land, natural wealth, and vegetation of Africa.
"While IBM has a rich heritage in diversity and inclusion, we are still learning, growing, and making progress." Carla Grant Pickens — Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, IBM
The people who told their stories here told them honestly, without a company script. That honesty is why this record exists.
What we committed to
Launched June 1, 2020 and carried by IBMers across every time zone.
Not a corporate mandate — a personal decision.
Seven promises made openly, in a moment that demanded them.
In their own words
These are not talking points. They are memories — a traffic stop at seventeen, a daughter whispering that she doesn't want her father to be choked, a sister who went to pick up her child and never came home. IBMers chose to say these things out loud. On camera. For a company audience.
They also asked something of their white colleagues: not sympathy, but understanding. The work of being an ally, they said, starts with sitting with what you didn't know — and deciding that not knowing is no longer enough.
Originally recorded 2020 — IBM Emb(race) campaign
↑ Unmute to hear the voices
Give. IBM matches. Built to activate, not inform.
In the summer of 2020, IBM matched every dollar IBMers donated to anti-discrimination charities, 1:1. This animated spot was made to move — circulated through internal channels to turn intention into action, fast.
The commitment, measured.
Source: IBM 2020 D&I ReportFour pillars, co-created with the Black community at IBM
Not handed down — built from the ground up. Black IBMers defined what real change needed to look like. Leadership listened, and committed to it structurally.
Representation & Transparency
Internal accountability through data transparency. Monthly CEO-led reviews. Executive compensation linked to D&I outcomes.
Economic Opportunity
Supplier diversity commitments, P-TECH school expansion, HBCU investment, and the OneTen coalition — 1 million jobs for Black Americans over 10 years.
Good Technology
Sunsetting facial recognition products. The IBM Words Matter initiative to remove discriminatory language from tech. Call for Code for Racial Justice.
Social Justice Policy
Direct advocacy for hate crime legislation in Georgia, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Wyoming — alongside the communities most affected.
Read the original — IBM's 2020 Diversity & Inclusion Report
The 2020 report broke new ground — IBM's most transparent accounting yet, including three-year hiring and representation data the company hadn't previously shared publicly. Every number on this page traces back to it.
Read it as it was published.