A former slave taught Jack Daniel to make whiskey. Now his company is retreating from DEI.
Fawn Weaver, founder of Black-owned spirits brand Uncle Nearest, has a message for Jack Daniel’s parent company, Brown-Forman, which announced last week that it is reversing course on its commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion: Take a page from the liquor baron who died in 1911.
“Jack Daniel, the man, offers a model for the type of DEI we need today,” she said.
In the 1800s, a young Daniel was introduced to a formerly enslaved man named Nathan “Nearest” Green who had perfected the art of filtering whiskey through charcoal. Green taught Daniel how to distill whiskey, and together they built one of the world’s iconic brands.
The parent company of Jack Daniel’s overlooked Green until Weaver – a bestselling author and businesswoman – set out to reclaim his forgotten legacy. By scouring historical archives and interviewing descendants, she pieced together scattered fragments of a distant past to reveal previously unknown details about an improbable partnership in the post-Civil War South.
In the process, she crafted a new chapter in her own legacy, establishing Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey and, in June, publishing a bestseller chronicling the rise of Nearest.
So when Brown-Forman said it would end workforce and supplier diversity goals and stop linking executive compensation to progress on DEI, the interview requests poured in. Weaver responded Thursday in an op-ed for Time magazine.
“Jack Daniel didn’t need mandates or quotas to treat people equitably,” she wrote. “His workforce at the distillery was diverse long before it was required by law.”
Uncle Nearest founder speaks out about Jack Daniel’s DEI backlash
Emboldened by last year’s Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action at the college level, conservatives have taken aim at DEI policies in the private sector, unleashing a wave of legal challenges that claim white Americans are being denied opportunities so corporations can hire and promote more people of color.
That groundswell of conservative activism is having an effect. Programs that once were open only to historically underrepresented groups are now increasingly open to everyone. A growing number of companies have dropped mentions of diversity goals in shareholder reports. Some even list DEI as a “risk factor” in regulatory filings.
The threat of boycotts has also become a potent deterrent. Robby Starbuck – the most recent anti-DEI activist to join the fray – puts pressure on companies by generating outrage on his X account, which has more than 600,000 followers.
Facing scrutiny from Starbuck, Brown-Forman made some changes. The rollback followed concessions from Lowe’s, John Deere, Harley-Davidson and others.
Weaver said America's conversation about DEI – like some DEI policies – is broken and in urgent need of a fix.
“As we discuss DEI today, it feels like we’re losing the plot. It shouldn’t be an either/or debate – it’s a matter of ‘and,’” Weaver wrote in Time. “Women and people of color make up 70% of the population, and we are essential to the workforce. But we don’t want special treatment; we want equality – equal pay and equal opportunities.”
Boosting diversity in spirits industry: ‘We need more Uncle Nearests’
Achieving parity for women and people of color in the trillion-dollar global alcohol industry for so long dominated by powerful white men has topped Weaver’s agenda for some time.
McKinsey’s 2020 Women in Workplace report found that the percentage of women in top executive roles within the industry was just 21% in 2020.
And while Black Americans make up 12% of customers, they account for 2% of executive leadership and 7.8% of the workforce, according to research from Pronghorn, a firm focused on increasing opportunities for Black entrepreneurs and leaders.
The official telling of American whiskey combined with today’s numbers give the false impression that the American spirits industry was always a white endeavor when, in fact, the contributions of enslaved men – many of whom brought this knowledge with them from Africa – dominated the labor force, including skilled roles. So Weaver has searched for ways to level the playing field.
“We need more Uncle Nearests. So how do we create more Uncle Nearests? The answer is to make sure the Black brands that are coming out, and are out, actually have the resources they need,” Weaver told The Spirits Business in 2020.
As the nation’s top companies made pledges to increase racial equity after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, Weaver teamed with Brown-Forman to cultivate the next generation of Black entrepreneurs struggling to gain a toehold in an industry that has rarely recognized the achievements of Black distillers or brands.
Chris Montana was one of those who urged Weaver and Brown-Forman to start the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative. When he started out in 2013, Montana says he "couldn't raise a dime."
“Part of that was because we didn’t know people who had money. Banks would not take a chance on us and, I get it, because I definitely didn’t look like the people who come in to start a brewery or a distillery,” said Montana, who quit his job as a lawyer two years later to focus full time on the distillery he started in Minneapolis as a side hustle with his wife, Shanelle Montana.
As the head of Du Nord Social Spirits, among the nation's few Black-owned distilleries, Montana often was the only Black person in the room. He credits efforts like the Uncle Nearest initiative for the growing number of Black-owned brands and distillers. Whereas a decade ago there was only a handful of these ventures, today there are dozens, he says.
Though he’s dismayed by Brown-Forman’s decision to bow to activist pressure, Montana said, he’s not surprised.
“While this is a visible step back and there are people who are really good at grabbing headlines and stoking fears and anger, it doesn’t overshadow the fact that we have taken a step forward,” he said.
Take Kevin Larkai and Monté Burrow, co-founders of Blackleaf Organic Vodka.
Burrow, a veteran of spirits maker Diageo, and Larkai, who has a background in finance, are behind a premium organic vodka brand handcrafted through copper-pot artisanal distillation in the Cognac region of France. The vodka, which has won industry awards, earned them a spot last year in the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative’s business incubator.
Industry giants like Brown-Forman helped the pair forge connections with distributors and cook up clever marketing campaigns – like a classic French martini made from their vodka and Brown-Forman’s Chambord black raspberry liqueur during the Summer Olympics.
“Programs like these are necessary because they plug people in with the right network and equip them with resources,” Larkai said.
As they break down barriers, the Blackleaf founders hope to light the way for others.
“We want to show that we can create the next leading brands,” Larkai said.
Will Jack Daniel’s DEI pullback harm Black entrepreneurs?
Brown-Forman won’t say whether its DEI pullback will affect the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative. Weaver told USA TODAY she has not been informed of any changes but declined to discuss the initiative further.
“I don’t believe most opponents of DEI programs are against diversity, equity, or inclusion,” she wrote in Time. “Their issue is with how DEI is currently being positioned. So the question becomes: how do we address historic injustices without creating new ones?”
But Weaver is also asking Americans to consider the state of women and Black people in a nation that prides itself on equal opportunity.
On average, women in the U.S. earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. Black workers earn just 76 cents and Black women earn even less, 64 cents.
“Maybe some current programs aren’t the answer, but what is?" she wrote. "If we can’t answer that, dismantling what we have only takes us back to a time when inequality was the rule of the land.”
To understand the DEI backlash, America also has to take a more expansive view of who has been left behind by economic progress, Weaver said.
One in 5 Black Americans live in poverty – a disproportionate share of the U.S. population – but so, too, do 15 million white Americans.
“As we talk about DEI, it’s time to expand the conversation to include socioeconomic status and geography,” she wrote. “True diversity and equity must embrace a broader vision of inclusion – one that acknowledges those who struggle regardless of race.”