Rev. Jesse Jackson targets Apple, Google, HP, others in tech racial diversity campaign

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  • Reply 21 of 271
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    I’d rather have all white men who can do the best job than “one of each flavor” who can’t.

    If that makes me racist, I’m happily so.

    Yes it does.

    malax wrote: »
    How many boards can Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice serve on?

    The fact is the there just isn't a huge pool of top-notch executive level African Americans to draw from.

    And that's where the problem lies. Why are minority execs in short supply? Don't tell me none are qualified. Why isn't there more opportunity? There has to be a non-quota way to fix this.

    I don't think Jesse Jackson should be the face of this issue. He's a race baiter. He's only in it for himself and his publicity.
  • Reply 22 of 271
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jungmark View Post





    Yes it does.

    No it doesn't.

  • Reply 23 of 271
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bvgk View Post



    While we are at it .... lets also bring diversity into NFL , NBA as well

    Weak Sauce.   It's actually a testament to how non-white people can achieve when their talents are nurtured at young age and rewarded based on ability, not on what school you came from (well... in a different sense, maybe), or did I hobnob with your father in the day....

  • Reply 24 of 271
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    Tim Cook: so busy focussing on being gay that he forgot to be African-American as well.

    Apple is Doomed™
  • Reply 25 of 271
    It starts with the approach that individuals like Bill Cosby espouse. Do that, provide equal educational opportunities and encourage/enable diversity at the school level and the problem will resolve itself in one or two generations.

    You already see improvements but, unless the points addressed by Cosby are embraced, the likelihood of true progress is diminished greatly.
  • Reply 26 of 271
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

    I’d rather have all white men who can do the best job than “one of each flavor” who can’t.

     

    If that makes me racist, I’m happily so.


    I would be willing to wager a winning lottery ticket that you are in fact a White person making what you probably think is a neutral, objective statement about race.

     

    I would also wager that you consider people of differing races (whatever they may be) to be truly different than you in some quality or distinction. Sure, there are cultural differences. There are physical differences. But in terms of their humanity, capability, value, and worth, they are absolutely no different. Scientifically speaking, there is actually greater genetic similarity between people of DIFFERING races than people of the same race!

     

    Which is why it is so problematic that there are so many of one "race" in power over people of another "race."

     

    Don't think CEOs have power, that they knowingly wield over others? I would wager the same lottery ticket I won from my previous bet that there are dozens of posts, articles, and physical evidence could argue otherwise.

     

    So why have CEOs that come from different backgrounds? Why from different races? The question is why NOT? Why AREN'T there people from all backgrounds, racial and ethnic, leading corporations, influencing vast swaths of American consumption? What makes White people so special?

     

    My apologies if this seems like a rant. But I believe veiled or self-excused racism is, in fact, the worst kind.

  • Reply 27 of 271
    Newly hired Angela Arendts at Apple is often touted as a potential successor to Tim Cook upon his retirement already. Also, I notice the new Chairman of the Board at Micrsoft is black.
  • Reply 28 of 271

    Are you seriously that ignorant ?  Do you know own any African American CEOs and executives exist at other companies? The pool is quite large. And there are are "binders full" of white women executives. Ignorance is just a prevalent in 2014 as it was in 1960. Welcome to the new world.  Oops.  It's still the old world - just more undercover. Put a new coat of paint on it but never fix the rust.  Sooner or later it comes to the surface. Duh.

  • Reply 29 of 271
    ceek74ceek74 Posts: 324member

    I was wondering what happened to Jesse Jackson.  It's been a while since we've heard from him.  Hiring the best person for the job inherently discriminates against hiring the worst person for the job.  How will we ever move forward?  /s

  • Reply 30 of 271
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by jungmark View Post

    Yes it does.


    Originally Posted by starflyer View Post

    No it doesn't.




     

    I’m glad there’s at least something on which we can agree.

     

    Originally Posted by emoeric87 View Post

    I would also wager that you consider people of differing races (whatever they may be) to be truly different than you in some quality or distinction.


     

    Is genetics a quality or distinction? Because I’ll have to go with genetics.

     
    But in terms of their humanity, capability, value, and worth, they are absolutely no different.

     

    Thanks for implying I believe otherwise, by the way. That goes over well with people–claiming things about them you cannot possibly know.

     

    Scientifically speaking, there is actually greater genetic similarity between people of DIFFERING races than people of the same race!


     

    That sounds completely and utterly wrong.

     

    The question is why NOT?


     

    That’s nowhere near an argument.

  • Reply 31 of 271
    tzeshantzeshan Posts: 2,351member

    Haven't he tried this before when Steve Jobs was alive?  

  • Reply 32 of 271
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    Jesse Jackson has a well-established reputation as a shake-down artist with PUSH in Chicago. There, he's not only demanded that businesses hire more blacks, he often has a list of friends seeking well-paying executive positions. It the racial equivalent of Chicago-machine's classic pay to play.

    On the other hand, it's hard to feel much sympathy for a company that leans politically left and whose employees put a lot of money in the Obama basket in 2008 and 2012. If you want good, fair, equitable, government that doesn't engaged in various forms of race and sex baiting, don't give money to those who have a "D" after their name, much less those from the country's most corrupt city. That's obvious.

    Instead, Apple has opted for putting the Chicago shakedown machine in the White House. It is now upset that means they, of all people, are getting hit by shakedowns. First came that DOJ lawsuit (for Amazon's sake, no doubt). Now Jesse Jackson has come a knocking, cap in hand. You reap what you sow.

    There's another reason to feel no sympathy for executive offices at Apple. Years ago, I worked on getting EMT-certification in Washington State. One of my classmates was a woman who'd come up from California. She told me that getting an EMT job in California was virtually impossible for a white woman. In their hiring, fire departments set aside a certain number of slots to fill diversity criteria. Their thinking was "Why fill just one at a time?" Hire a white woman, and they'd only fill one diversity slot. Hire a black or Hispanic woman and they filled two. And they weren't doing that out of evil intent. Once those quotas were filled, other applicants could be judged on merit alone. And when it comes to EMTs and Medics, what you really want are those most qualified.

    I made a mental note to never get in a medical emergency in California. And since that sort of unpleasantness has been going on for decades for working-class and blue collar job with no protest from Apple and their kin, there's little reason to get upset when the quota demands start to focus on the top. It's not like a company with Al Gore on its board can argue that intelligence, good sense and technical expertise drive its selection process.

    I might add that in my experience people with genuine talent, whatever their race or sex, hate quotas. Those quotas cast doubt on the success they've legitimately earned.
  • Reply 33 of 271
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    And the race baiting extortionist plies his trade once again.

  • Reply 34 of 271
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Ah... Jesse Jackson, professional corporate blackmailer back in action.

    He is a truly lamentable human being.
  • Reply 35 of 271
    retrogustoretrogusto Posts: 1,109member

    To me, the surprise isn't that there aren't more African-Americans in top-tier tech positions, it's that there aren't more Indians, Chinese and Russians (although there are some of course, like Nadella at Microsoft). In my experience working in technology in New York, those seem to be the dominant groups. I haven't really seen high percentages of African-Americans in technology in any "tier," and the situation isn't much better for women in general. Career choices have a strong cultural component, and this can certainly change, but I don't think the businesses and industries are primarily responsible in this case. I think parents and schools are probably more to blame, if we're going to apportion blame. Here in New York, there's so much demand for good developers that competitive businesses can't really afford to discriminate even if they wanted to. Which isn't to say that racism and discrimination aren't completely reprehensible and probably still happening somewhere.

  • Reply 36 of 271
    see flatsee flat Posts: 145member
    "Technology is supposed to be about inclusion, but sadly, patterns of exclusion remains the order of the day,"

    Uh? I thought technology was about getting the best engineers and designers to forge paths into the future. What does that have to do with race, creed or color?
  • Reply 37 of 271
    gtbuzzgtbuzz Posts: 129member
    Jessie Jackson is a terrible choice for a diversity campaign leader. He is a known racial bigot. Apple has plenty of diverse employees and Mr Jackson has only 1 thing in mind - Black, not diverse. He has been a trouble maker all of his life and I would not give him the time of day. He is biased and not worth even a conversation on the subject.
  • Reply 38 of 271
    spartanspartan Posts: 21member
    You know, if you're smart and black, you'll make it. Just like if you're smart and white, smart and asian, smart and indian, etc...you'll make it.

    Jackson just can't stop playing the race card. He's the typical reverse racist.
  • Reply 39 of 271
    It's not like the problem is limited to executives and to Apple. In 20 years in the Silicon Valley, I have worked with a grand total of three African Americans; never interviewed a single black candidate for an open position. Don't know what the reason is, but there seems to be a disproportionately low percentage of blacks in the high-tech industry; i don't know what the official statistics are.
  • Reply 40 of 271
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    blastdoor wrote: »
    I agree that firms should hire the best people for the job without regard to race, age, sex etc. 

    However, I also think that there are real inequities in society that need to be addressed, and that in far too many cases people who say what you said (and what I agree with) pretend those inequities don't exist or are opposed to every single idea for addressing them. 

    So I think that if one rejects one idea, then there is some burden on the rejector to suggest an alternative. 

    The alternative I suggest is to focus on economic inequality rather than racial/gender/etc inequality, and use mildly redistributionist policies to address those inequities. By "mildly redistributionist" I mean taxing the rich at a higher marginal rate than the middle class and poor, and using that money to support things like the earned income tax credit and education and health care for the poor. In other words, I support the types of policies that the mainstream Democratic party supports, and that the Republican party is constantly trying to eliminate. 

    Marxism and income redistribution are wasteful frauds. If you want to really debate their merits, start a new thread in Political Outsider.
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