Boycott Those Who Fund the Police: “Woke" Corporations like JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Chevron Bankroll Police Foundations, which Raise $ to Harm Non-White People and Put Them in Greater Confinement

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Mint Press reports “JPMorgan Chase CEO Jaime Dimon very publicly took a knee outside a New York branch of his bank in early June, also circulating a memo declaring the financial institution’s supposed dedication to struggling against injustice. “Let us be clear — we are watching, listening and want every single one of you to know we are committed to fighting against racism and discrimination wherever and however it exists,” he and the company’s diversity chief wrote together.

In the wake of worldwide public outrage over racist police violence, many of the United States’ largest corporations rushed to publicly align themselves with the growing movement for black lives. Yet a new report from the Public Accountability Initiative exposes how corporate America is actually bankrolling police departments across the country, including many of the same ones facing scrutiny over racist practices.”

The report states, “The same companies that drive environmental racism in Black and Brown communities through toxic and climate-changing pollution also fund police power in cities that stretch from Houston and Detroit to New Orleans and Salt Lake City.

Oil and gas companies, private utilities, and financial institutions that bankroll fossil fuels are all big backers of police foundations, which privately raise money to buy weapons, equipment, and surveillance technology for police departments, bypassing already outsized public police budgets. These corporate actors – from Chevron and Shell to Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase – can be found serving as directors and funders of police foundations nationwide. Furthermore, these companies sponsor events and galas that celebrate the police and remind the public that police power is backed up by corporate power.

Fossil fuel companies, utilities, and the banks that fund them are prominent political players in any local or regional power structure. These companies, which rely on extraction and exploitation to secure their profits, have an incentive to form tight bonds with police forces, which function to uphold and protect their interests in the face of community opposition. In many states, these companies go so far as to back laws to criminalize protests of dirty energy projects such as pipelines, openly weaponizing the police and criminal justice system to protect the profits of the fossil fuel industry and the banks that fund them.

This symbiotic relationship between the fossil fuel industry and police often means that the companies that are polluting Black and Brown communities – like Marathon Petroleum in Detroit, Valero in Corpus Christi, or Shell in Louisiana –  are the same ones that are aligned with and propping up police forces in these same cities. This is why divesting from fossil fuels and fighting to end environmental racism goes hand in hand with defunding the police in the fight for racial justice and reinvestment in Black and Brown communities.

  • Chevron, one of the top integrated oil and gas companies in the world, with a market capitalization value that ranked only behind ExxonMobil at the end of 2019. The fifth biggest US refiner, Chevron is a top polluter that owns two of the top six benzene-emitting refineries in the US. Chevron’s refineries are the targets of numerous environmental justice fights. For example, in Richmond, California, community residents have fought for years against the power, pollution, and environmental racism of Chevron, which owns a major refinery in the city made up of 80% people of color.


    Chevron is a “Corporate Partner of the Police” sponsor of the New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation, as well as a board member of the Houston Police Foundation and sponsor of the Houston Police Department’s mounted patrol. It is also donor to and, as of the end of 2018, a board member of the Salt Lake City Police Foundation.

  • Shell, one of the biggest fossil fuel companies in the world and a major global emitter of carbon pollution. It is building a huge ethane cracker plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that some feel could start to turn Appalachia into the next “Cancer Alley” – the nickname for the New Orleans-to-Baton Rouge corridor of Louisiana refineries, where Shell is also a major polluter. Cancer Alley runs through several Black communities that face extremely high rates of pollution and cancer – largely believed to be caused by refining and petrochemical operations.

    Shell is a “Featured Partner” of the New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation and a sponsor of the Houston Police Department’s Mounted Patrol.

  • Exelon is a publicly-traded energy company headquartered in Chicago and the largest utility in the country with eight subsidiaries. Exelon is a major political player and a prolific donor to police foundations where it and its subsidiaries operate, giving to foundations in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington D.C. For example, in Baltimore County, BGE, a subsidiary of Exelon, has a seaton the police foundation board and is a gold level sponsor.

  • Exelon is a publicly-traded energy company headquartered in Chicago and the largest utility in the country with eight subsidiaries. Exelon is a major political player and a prolific donor to police foundations where it and its subsidiaries operate, giving to foundations in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington D.C. For example, in Baltimore County, BGE, a subsidiary of Exelon, has a seaton the police foundation board and is a gold level sponsor.

  • Bank of America is the fourth biggest global financier of fossil fuels, with nearly $157 billion between 2016 and 2019 channeled toward oil, gas, and coal. Along with being a lender to some of the most controversial US pipeline projects, Bank of America also played a key advising role in Occidental’s acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum last year, the biggest oil merger in years. Bank of America also had the biggest increase in financing fossil fuels from 2018 to 2019 – $13.1 billion – of any bank globally, according to the 2020 Banking on Climate Change report.

    Bank of America is a sponsor of the Philadelphia Police Foundation and has seats on the Chicago, NYC, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police foundation boards. Its charitable arm has given $200,000 to the NYC Police Foundation, $51,250 to the Atlanta Police Foundation, $25,000 to the Boston Police Foundation, $10,000 to the Los Angeles Police Foundation, and smaller donations to police foundations in Sarasota, Duluth, Sacramento, and elsewhere. Bank of America’s ties to racist practices go beyond its donations to policing – just last year it agreed to pay a $4.2 million “in back wages and interest to resolve alleged hiring discrimination violations found at several of the bank’s facilities,” according to the US Department of Labor.

  • BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager and remains one of the biggest global investors in oil, gas, and coal. According to a 2019 Guardian report, BlackRock has $87.3 billion invested in fossil fuel companies through its listed portfolio funds. The Guardian report also notes that BlackRock has “routinely opposed motions at fossil fuel companies that would have forced directors to take more action on climate change, the analysis reveals.” And even as BlackRock has gestured towards more climate accountability with companies BlackRock invests in, some have criticized the limited extent of these measures and the firm’s overall credibility on climate issues.

    BlackRock’s Larry Fink is a big supporter of the one of the most powerful police foundations in the US, the NYC Police Foundation. Not only is Fink a donor to the foundation, but he has also co-chaired its annual gala from 2016 to 2019. Color of Change, which calls itself “the nation’s largest online racial justice organization,” is currently demanding that Fink and BlackRock stop supporting the foundation. [MORE]

    After George Floyd’s murder Fink stated “The past few weeks have been deeply painful for the black community. I am appalled – as is anyone who cares about diversity, fairness and justice – by the events of the last few weeks involving racial injustice in the U.S. The murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, and the incident in Central Park, show how much work we have to do to build a stronger, more equal, and safer society.

    Many of us are struggling with these events. For our employees suffering pain from these tragedies, I want you to know that that the firm’s leadership stands with you, and we are listening. We will do everything we can to support you and give you the space to express your feelings and concerns.” [MORE]

  • Wells Fargo is the second biggest global banker behind fossil fuels, with nearly $198 billion in financing between 2016 and 2019. The scandal-ridden bank has a slew of ties to police foundations. It is a platinum sponsor and has two board seats with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Foundation. It is also a partner and donor to the Seattle Police Foundation, a director and sponsor of the Atlanta Police Foundation, and a donor to the Salt Lake City Police Foundation. Moreover, when it comes to financial ties to racist practices and institutions, Wells Fargo coziness with the police is just one example: the bank has been involved in discriminatory lending, propping up private prisons, and much more (for more information, check out the ACRE’s Forego Wells campaign).

  • After George Floyd was murdered the Wells Fargo CEO stated: “As a white man, as much as I can try to understand what others are feeling, I know that I cannot really appreciate and understand what people of color experience and the impacts of discriminatory behavior others must live with.” [MORE]