In a Tuesday morning tweet, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., challenged activist celebrities and corporate America to take a stand against slavery by holding governments like China accountable for their appalling labor practices.
I challenge every major American corporation making products overseas in #China or elsewhere to pledge that they are #slavefree, that they DO not and WILL not rely on forced, slave labor
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 21, 2020
With so much attention currently devoted to Black Lives Matter, racism and the horrors of slavery, corporate America and popular culture icons like NBA superstar Lebron James should automatically embrace the non-controversial position.
But that’s not likely to happen, and Hawley is exposing the hypocrisy.
To genuinely address the corporate Left’s professed causes would, in turn, diminish bottom lines—and that’s a sacrifice too great for their movement.
Rather, corporations and brand celebrities seem intent on profiting from slavery, as their Chinese virtue-signaling suggests.
On Monday, the freshman Missouri senator, a prominent ally to President Donald Trump, introduced federal legislation to hold American companies accountable if they use slave labor in their supply chains.
The Slave-Free Business Certification Act would increase corporate supply chain disclosure requirements, mandate regular audits, require CEOs to certify that their company supply chains do not rely on slave labor and creates penalties for firms that fail basic minimum standards for human rights.
“Executives build woke, progressive brands for American consumers, but happily outsource labor to Chinese concentration camps, all just to save a few bucks,” Hawley said in a statement.
He also tagged some of America’s loudest and most privileged social-justice-spouting celebrities and corporations for a response.
Among them were James, apparel brand Nike and Apple CEO Tim Cook, along with an appeal to National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver.
.@KingJames will you pledge your @Nike product lines are #slavefree?
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 21, 2020
.@tim_cook, will you pledge that @Apple is #slavefree?
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 21, 2020
As of Tuesday afternoon, all of Hawley’s inquiries went unanswered.
Similarly, fellow GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took on NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Still no answer from @mcuban
Let’s try simpler. Mark, tough guy, can you say “Free Hong Kong”?
Can your players put that on their jerseys?
Can you condemn the CCP’s concentration camps w/ 1 million Uyghurs?
Can you say ANYTHING other than “Chairman Mao is beautiful & wise”? https://t.co/0XpLRaFSw2
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 20, 2020
According to Hawley, at least 80 companies have been tied to slave labor in China, including American sportswear companies and tech giants.
The issue also spreads far beyond China, as demonstrated by Starbucks’s use of South American forced labor for its coffee beans.
“If corporate America wants to be the face of social change today, they should have to certify they are completely slave-free,” said Hawley.
“And if they refuse to do so, they should pay the price,” he added. “That’s social responsibility.”
