Goldman Sachs removes mentions of 'Black' from flagship diversity pledge

The 'Black in Business' program says it's to help entrepreneurs 'stay in the black,' referring to profits—not race

- Annamaria Andriotis

Goldman Sachs is retooling its biggest diversity program to remove references to race.

The Wall Street giant four years ago launched its "One Million Black Women" program, a multi-billion-dollar commitment to invest in Black women. In recent weeks, the bank removed mentions of "Black" from the program's home page, without changing its name.

An educational program for Black businesswomen was also recently scrubbed of references to race. Goldman's site now just says its "Black in Business" program helps entrepreneurs "stay in the black," a reference to being profitable.

Goldman, like much of corporate America, has been combing through its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to ensure that it doesn't run into legal troubles, while trying not to entirely abandon its pledges. The bank is treading a fine line. While Goldman has been changing words, the program's sites still feature photos of Black women and research reports about "Black Womenomics."

Supporters of Goldman's DEI efforts fear the changes won't just be cosmetic and will mean the loss of critical funding and investments.

President Trump's targeting of DEI programs has led many companies, including Goldman's rival Morgan Stanley, to water down language and open their programs to broader groups of people.