, Urban One and Chevrolet announced that they will continue their partnership and use their resources and platforms to make a positive social and economic impact within black communities across America.

Year two of this partnership kicked off in June, with two campaigns acting as means of enabling conversations to promote actionable change and make progress when it comes to racial equality and equity.

How did it do this?

One Solution, a division of Urban One, and its sponsor Chevrolet explored historical, contemporary and future experiences of black Americans and how they related to the racialized ideals of the "American Dream" through special podcast episodes on "More Than That with Gia Peppers," as well as a traveling campaign for an in-person experience.

It did this on the first anniversary of Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday.

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That's great, right?

Yes, it is. Any kind of discussion on racial equality and equity that could lead to some meaningful progress is direly needed in today's increasingly polarized society. But…

Oh no.

...this could be part of General Motors' response to allegations of racism in its manufacturing facilities in recent years.

CNN

reports, black employees at General Motors' Toledo, Ohio powertrain plant faced discrimination in the form of harassment, racist comments, and threats in 2017 and 2018—and it wasn't a one-time thing.

Marcus Boyd, one of nine affected employees named in a lawsuit against the automaker, told CNN that his coworkers would declare "white-only" bathrooms and call black employees "monkeys," for example.

Other black employees were told to "go back to Africa," while white workers would boast about their family ties to the Ku Klux Klan and would wear shirts with Nazi and white supremacist iconography under their coveralls.

Boyd added that he experienced discrimination even from his direct reports, who refused to recognize his authority as a supervisor, calling him racial slurs instead, with little to no disciplinary action taken by plant leadership.

Another plaintiff in the case, Mark Edwards, reported to his department one day to find a noose hanging near his work station, according to the

Detroit Free Press

Yikes.

Yeah. The automaker has since vowed to drive racism out of its workplaces and placed a bounty for info on the culprits of the noose incident in Toledo.

A bounty?

A $25,000 bounty, to be precise. It's also unlikely GM would disclose who might have sold out his or her co-workers for that money lest they face reprisal.

It didn't stop there for GM, though, because the automaker also faced claims of racism against CEO Mary Barra from black-owned media executives.

They alleged in a full-page Sunday Detroit Free Press ad that the automaker spends just 0.5% of its advertising dollars on minority-owned media outlets.

A GM spokesman denied the claims, saying that the company spends much more than that amount.

For good measure, he threw in Chevrolet's work on "Real Talk, Real Change" and its upcoming work with Gia Peppes' podcast as evidence of its intent to encourage discussions on race.

Where are we going with this?

Again, having discussions on race is a great thing, especially in a nation where racism is so deeply rooted in all levels of society.

And it's a good thing that GM is stepping up in the years following some of the most egregious racial discrimination by white employees in recent memory.

Funding a discussion on one of society's most pressing issues—even if the reason for doing so may be in response to negative legal or media attention—is still a plus for society as a whole.

MORE: New Jersey Working to Ban This Controversial Car Insurance Practice

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