An Open Letter to Our Employees on Anti-Asian Violence

February 25, 2021

Over the past few weeks, we've learned of a disturbing increase in violent attacks targeting Asian people across the United States and Canada. These hate crimes have created a sense of fear and uncertainty that we can feel well beyond the Asian community. It's important we draw attention to what is happening and that we call it what it is: racism.

Racism is much deeper and more complex than simply Black and white. It's an unfortunate reality that impacts many races and ethnicities. We need to stand up and speak out against racism, standing as allies for any group that's being targeted or discriminated against because of the color of their skin. We must do this because not only is it the right thing to do, but also because this type of hate and intolerance destroys the vibrant and diverse communities we work so hard to build.

We firmly believe diversity makes our company and our world better, and we have no tolerance for discrimination of any kind.

It's been a tough year. On top of the pandemic, examples of race-motivated violence and murder have been too many to count. It's disheartening to feel like progress isn't being made as quickly as we'd like. But if we've learned anything over the past year, it's that together we can make things better. Your commitment to each other, our customers and communities is what's going to enable Nordstrom to be the positive change agent we know we can be. It will take more work, but that work has never been more important than it is today.

Thanks for being on this journey with us.
Pete and Erik