 In the wake of George Floyd's killing, Amazon launched a series of initiatives to help Black-owned businesses increase sales through the world's largest e-commerce retailer. Founder Jeff Bezos famously chided customers who disagreed with Amazon's choice to prominently display a Black Lives Matter banner. And the company donated $10 million to racial justice causes. But during the retailer's Prime Day shopping extravaganza this week, there was little marketing muscle directing shoppers to products from Black-owned businesses. Most of the Black Lives Matter banners were gone. A search for Black-owned businesses on Amazon surfaced black ink toner and printers. A brand new storefront set up to highlight Black-owned businesses displayed only 95 products out of the 350 million items available on Amazon.com. There's no doubt that there are many more products for sale on Amazon by Black business owners, or that many of the small business owners highlighted by Amazon during prime day are Black. An Amazon spokesperson said the company is committed to supporting Black-owned businesses by helping them reach new customers and providing training, marketing and promotional support. But Prime Day is an important case study as we track the commitments made by Corporate America to address systemic racism. Throwing weight behind Black-owned businesses is one of the most immediate and tangible ways companies like Amazon can address America's racial barriers in a concrete way.  UPS drivers unload boxes during a delivery in New York this week. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg Take small business owner Karen Blackwell, who derives a fifth of sales for her Sage & Alms brand from Amazon. In September, the retailer featured one of her products, a 20-pack of Dewburst cleansing cloths, in its new Black-Owned Businesses storefront. She saw more than a 35x increase in sales, "all without expensive advertising," she says. "It was immediate impact." Blackwell lauds Amazon for its commitment to businesses like hers. She says Amazon has gone well beyond empty pledges of support. But she wasn't aware of anything Amazon was doing for Prime Day to highlight Black-business owners—what she called a missed opportunity on one of the site's busiest shopping days. "Visibility is important, but what Black-owned businesses need is access to capital, networks and expertise," said Karen Boykin-Towns, vice chairman of the NAACP national board of directors and a senior counselor at public relations firm Sard Verbinnen & Co. "Large companies like Amazon have a huge responsibility, but also an opportunity to force structural change because of their size and reach." | 
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