Jesse Jackson escalates Silicon Valley campaign
SAN FRANCISCO Jesse Jackson is escalating his campaign for more racial and ethnic diversity in Silicon Valley.
The civil rights leader called on technology companies to accelerate hiring of African Americans and Latinos in a letter sent Monday.
“It’s time to take stock of what has been done: what has worked and what hasn’t,” Jackson wrote in the letter that he shared with USA TODAY. “Are the pledges and commitments matching real results? Are any tech companies making a real difference and, if so, how? If not, why not?”
Jackson is asking 27 technology companies from giants such as Apple and Facebook to startups such as Airbnb, Dropbox and Uber for more detailed information on diversity, including the release of federal diversity data and of the affirmative-action plans that federal contractors must file with the government. Companies are not required to publicly disclose either.
“The goal is not simply to be transparent, but to change the face of technology so that its leadership, workforce and business partnerships mirror the world in which we live,” Jackson wrote.
Jackson said he’s turning up the heat after technology companies showed little progress in their annual diversity updates. He called on these companies to publicly set goals and timetables for hiring more African Americans and Latinos who represent a tiny fraction of their workforces.
“Most of these companies have been disappointingly slow,” Jackson said in an interview.
“We must increase our protests and make them broader and more public. ... They think we are going away, but we’re not.”
Jackson says he wants to hear back from companies by Sept. 30.
“The ball’s in their court,” he said.
Tech companies acknowledge they are wrestling with a serious diversity problem. The are dominated by white and Asian men, and not just in their technical and leadership ranks but throughout the organization. And, despite well publicized efforts to diversify their ranks, the numbers have barely budged.
Facebook recently disclosed it hired 36 African-American employees in 2014. That was out of a total of 1,216 employees the company added last year.
Mother Jones concluded the combined black workforces of Google, Facebook and Twitter could fit on a single jumbo jet.
That lack of diversity has drawn the attention of Washington lawmakers.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus flew to Silicon Valley last week to turn up the pressure on tech companies to hire more African Americans.
Caucus members met with Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich as well as executives from Google, Pandora and SAP to discuss how technology companies plan to fix their troubling hiring record.
President Obama also held the first-ever White House Demo Day last week to call on the industry to level the playing field.
“Ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, and they can be inspired by any kind of life experience,” Obama said in a speech in the East Room. “We’ve got to make sure that everybody is getting a fair shot. The next Steve Jobs might be named Stephanie or Esteban.”