The Rev. Jesse Jackson has rounded up some of the tech industry s most powerful players to discuss a problem far thornier than battery life or processing speed: diversity.
Companies including Google, Apple and Facebook are gathering on Intel s campus this afternoon for a forum organized by Rainbow Push, Jackson s group. The four-hour event will cap off a year in which Jackson has spent much of his time pushing for Silicon Valley companies to diversify their ranks.
Earlier this year, thanks in part to prodding from Jackson, a series of tech companies finally shared statistics about the makeup of their employees, disclosures the San Jose Mercury News had long pushed for. The statistics revealed that the companies employees are largely white and male, a revelation that came as a surprise to few.
With these report cards in hand, the aim of the conference is to discuss ways to drive improvements, Jackson said in an interview before the event.
Now that the companies have revealed these great deficits, we want to set goals, he said.
Jackson added that he met with Apple CEO Tim Cook earlier this week to discuss how the company can diversify its ranks.
It was very good to meet with Tim Cook, he said. These are very progressive people. They are focused on the globe.
But Jackson indicated that he will not let up his pressure on the Valley anytime soon.
We bought stalk in most of the companies here, he said. We plan to be regulars at shareholders meetings.
Above: The Rev. Jesse Jackson is campaigning to boost diversity in Silicon Valley (Frazer Harrison, Getty Images).
