J.P. Morgan Will Donate To Rights Groups -- WSJ

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (August 22, 2017).

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is planning up to $2 million in donations to human- and civil-rights organizations following the recent clashes in Charlottesville, Va.

The largest U.S. bank by assets will donate $1 million split between the Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League "to further their work in tracking, exposing and fighting hate groups and other extremist organizations," according to an internal bank memo sent Monday that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

This follows bank Chief Executive James Dimon saying in an employee memo last week that he strongly disagreed with President Donald Trump's reaction to Charlottesville and personally supported the disbanding of the president's strategic and policy council of which he was a member.

"It is a leader's role, in business or government, to bring people together, not tear them apart," Mr. Dimon wrote in the internal memo sent Aug. 16, the day the strategic council disbanded.

The debate over the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, a top commander of Confederate forces in the Civil War, sparked racially charged protests in Charlottesville. One woman was killed during the violence when a car driven by an alleged white supremacist plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters.

Mr. Trump said both sides -- white nationalists and counterprotesters -- were to blame for the clashes.

"Now more than ever, America's leading institutions must speak out against white supremacism," said the Southern Poverty Law Center.

J.P. Morgan said in Monday's memo that beginning in September, it would match employees' donations to a range of human- and civil-rights organizations two for one. The bank will donate up to an additional $1 million, according to the memo, sent by Peter Scher, the bank's chairman of the Washington, D.C., region and corporate responsibility head.

J.P. Morgan will also give $50,000 to support the work of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation for its immediate and longer-term reconciliation efforts.

"The events in Charlottesville have increased the urgency to confront hate, intolerance and discrimination wherever it exists," the bank said, according to Monday's memo.

Write to Emily Glazer at emily.glazer@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)