The North Face retail company is offering customers a nice discount but they must take a course first.
That’s right, customers have to take an hour-long equity course.
From Fox Business:
The North Face company is offering customers a discount if they complete an equity course that teaches how White people never experience racism, and how the “outdoors” is oppressive against Black people.
The North Face, whose parent company is V.F. Corporation, launched a racial equity course that states how White people never experience hardship due to the color of their skin and that Black people are barred from outdoor activities because of systemic racism and oppression.
Heritage Foundation DEI expert Mike Gonzalez took the course and said, “It was the longest hour I have ever lived.”
The course requests that customers consider a “systemic” change when trekking in the outdoors and want them to take part in “Challeng[ing] existing policies that exclude people of color from the outdoors.”
“Allyship means playing an active role in making change happen for those who lack power and privilege as members of an underrepresented minority group,” the course said. “The most important thing to remember is that allyship is a verb, not a noun. Allyship is active, not passive which means you need to practice it.”
“The aim is to create a more equitable outdoors for everyone. Every person has a basic right to human dignity, respect and equal access to resource. But not everyone is starting from the same place. Equity acknowledges that everyone comes from different circumstances and allocates resources and opportunities accordingly, so that everyone can reach and equal outcome,” The North Face course stated.
Let me just say that I’ve been a hobbyist mountain trekker my whole life, and let me tell you, the snobbiest people you’ll encounter are those wearing REI/Patagonia and other highly expensive gear. Like cyclists, trekkers will judge a fellow hiker on their gear and look down on you if you don’t have top-of-the-line stuff. I have not only seen this but experienced this, and most of them are snotty privileged kids.
Part of what makes North Face so “privileged” is that their items cost an arm and a leg. If the company was really serious about “equity,” why don’t they slash their prices by 50-75% so we can have the “privilege” of owning great gear and enjoying the great outdoors?
Now, if we really want to have a discussion about “equity,” how about North Face stop using sweatshops to make their clothing.
A report in 2017 found that North Face owns a sweatshop in Cambodia with 500 workers who collapsed from exhaustion manufacturing the company clothes. It was learned that the facility, employing mainly women, was worked to the bone in awful conditions.
The company also refused to sign documents committing the company to improving and monitoring its labor practices.
But they’ll make you take an hour course for a 20% discount.
