A white woman is suing e-commerce giant Amazon over a program that gives "Black, Latinx, and Native American entrepreneurs" a $10,000 stipend to launch their own delivery startups, an offer the lawsuit calls "Patently unlawful racial discrimination."
The online retailer delivers packages by contracting with local "Delivery service partners"-outside businesses that drive parcels from point A to point B. To "Help reduce the barriers to entry for Black, Latinx, and Native American entrepreneurs," Amazon's website states, the company has created a "Diversity grant" that offers minorities $10,000 to launch their own businesses and become delivery service partners.
"This means that businesses owned by blacks, Latinos, or Native Americans receive a $10,000 stipend from Amazon to become delivery service partners, while whites and Asian Americans who wish to become delivery service partners receive no such stipend and must foot the entire bill for their startup costs," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit includes several screenshots from the retail giant's website, which promotes the race-based stipend scheme under the heading, "Commitment to Diversity." On another web page titled "Our partners," the company touts its Black Business Accelerator and says the program has the support of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Amazon has asked a California district court to dismiss the lawsuit, in part on the grounds that Correll has never sold anything on Amazon and thus lacks the standing to challenge its advertising policies.
Since she "Cannot apply to become an Amazon delivery service partner without subjecting herself to racial discrimination," her lawsuit argues, Bolduc is "Suffering injury" on account of the stipend program and therefore has the standing to challenge it.
"Ms. Bolduc will not apply to become an Amazon delivery service partner until Amazon eliminates this racially discriminatory policy," the lawsuit says, "Either by extending its $10,000 benefit to whites and Asians or curtailing or eliminating the benefit entirely."
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