Greetings! Happy Friday. Thank you for following me on Twitter . Thank you for all of your comments. Thank you for your likes. Thank you to all of those who do not agree with me. Again, we do not all have to agree but we must have some meaning dialogue to achieve peace. This week we went to Silicon Valley. We attended the Hewlett Packard Shareholders meeting. Many of you agreed with why we went and many of you did not. To those of you who did not know we went and/or why and to those of you who are further interested, I am sharing excerpt of my remarks: Mr. Chairman, Ms. Whitman, Board members and shareholders: I speak to you today representing the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, about the need to open up a new era of growth and inclusion of African Americans and people of color in Silicon Valley’s technology industry. Inclusion leads to growth, and when there is growth, everybody wins. Silicon Valley is America’s valley: built through American R&D; American education; American tax credits and tax havens. Technology is supposed to be about inclusion, but sadly, patterns of exclusion remains the order of the day. The tech industry is perhaps the worst industry when it comes to inclusion – let me state some facts: When it comes to African Americans on Board of Directors and C-suites, Minority firms in IPO’s and financial transactions, advertising and professional services there are too many ZEROES. HP is uniquely position to lead this new era. Inclusion and fairness is part of the DNA of HP’s history. Your Digital Village initiative of the past decade was a model partnership for the East Palo Alto community. Your former CEO Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman are two of the trailblazing women in technology, paving the way for the Sheryl Sandbergs and Marisa Mayers. When women lean in, so must Blacks and Latinos move forward. Everyone must be included. I appeal to you today to forge new partnerships, build new relationships and lead the valley into this next era. Silicon Valley and the tech industry has demonstrated that it can solve the most challenging complex problem in the world. Inclusion is a complex problem – if we put our collective minds to it, we can solve it, too. There’s nothing we can’t do, together. We won’t know how good Silicon Valley can be until everyone can participate. All we ask is that everyone plays by one set of rules, and that there is an even playing field for all The “we can’t find them” syndrome is a thing of the past. Who is looking? And where are “they” looking. We can find them, if we look in the right places. There is a wealth of untapped talent. Blacks are biggest per capital user of social media and the internet – we use HP computers and printers; we use Iphones and androids. We a huge part of your customer base. It’s time the Boards of Directors and C-suits – the businesses you do business with - reflect your customer base. ZERO Blacks on Boards and in the C-suites Tech powerhouses including Apple, EBay, Google, and new media companies like Twitter and Facebook - have ZERO Blacks on their Board of Directors. Black Enterprise magazine reported that 75 of the top 250 S&P 500 public companies do not have an African American on their Board of Directors (bit.ly/1f0JvbT). This same pattern exists in the C-suites. Facebook, Twitter, EBay, HP, Apple, and far too many other Silicon Valley and technology firms have ZERO African Americans on their senior executive leadership teams. There are just five Black CEOs – or 1% - of Fortune 500 companies; Latinos fare slightly better with eight CEO’s, 1.6%, and there are 22 women (The Guardian) at the helm of all Fortune 500 CEOs (bit.ly/PZ2zC5). Participation in capital markets Silicon Valley must evolve and expand to look like America, and mirror American values and principles – we must even the playing field and play by one set of rules. Let’s win together. Lets talk about this. Does Silicon Valley Lack Doiversity? Are you a minority in a tech industry but cannot find a job? Red, Brown, Black or white, we are all precious in his sight. Should Silicon Valley look like an All Inclusive America? Lets discuss this. Keep Hope Alive! - See more at: bit.ly/1f0JvbU bit.ly/1nJ1EnS
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 00:36:16 +0000
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