Rally Speech: Why I Must Act
[Speech given to Tableau employees at “Drawing A Line: Tableau Rally For Human Rights,” an employee demonstration held on October 29, 2019. Lightly edited for clarity and sourcing.]
I know that there’s always a temptation to inaction, a little voice that tells us to keep our heads down and wait it out. So I’d like to talk a little about why I couldn’t stand idly by. When we join Tableau, we’re told that we are on a mission, that our culture and our mission are based on helping people. That people-driven desire to do good that Tableau looks for isn’t something that we can just turn off. The parts of ourselves that drive us to want to make things better, that purposeful spirit that we look for in our coworkers and enshrine in our company values, is now driving us to make a stand.
This isn’t an academic argument about slippery slopes or how much harm is too much: people are suffering, right now, and we won’t be a party to it. There’s a reason why we’ve called this “drawing a line:” We’ve seen enough to understand that what is happening to asylum seekers and refugees and migrants is wrong. No matter what aspirations we have as developers of technology, the impact of our tech is dependent on the values of the people using it. And, frankly, the stories I have heard coming from the border do not encourage me to trust the values and intentions of agencies like ICE. Moral rot is not a problem we can solve with software.
I can’t just keep my head down and keep working, and leave the protesting and advocating for days off or weekends. As workers in tech we’re told that we are changing the world. And the funny thing is, I believe it! But that means that I, and people like me, have a great deal of power. And that means that I, and people like me, have a great deal of privilege. I feel compelled to use that power and privilege responsibly. I can’t, with a clear conscience, spend my time off advocating for a better world, and then go into work the next day and know that I’m contributing to making it worse. We can’t build with one hand and destroy with the other.
That goes for tech companies’ philanthropic efforts too. Companies in the past have tried to downplay or offset their relationships with ICE through charity. And organizations working to bring relief and justice, like RAICES, have started to turn those companies down. These organizations actively trying to ease the suffering at our border know that there’s a difference between ongoing, sincere efforts to help, and reactionary attempts to buy your way out of bad publicity. Throwing a few bucks at a problem you’ve caused isn’t charity: it’s damage control. So, while I am proud of and humbled by the work that organizations like the Tableau Foundation have been doing for the past four years to address the humanitarian crisis at the border, I don’t think that there’s any dollar amount on a donation that will absolve tech companies of their responsibilities.
I believe that Tableau makes powerful, world-changing, and disruptive software. I do! It’s precisely because I believe in our company’s products and mission that I can’t, in good conscience, put our tools into the hands of agencies like ICE that have shown that they can’t be trusted with that power.
We’re not the first people in tech to stand up against ICE. I don’t think we’ll be the last to stand up, either: we are as an industry and as a culture awakening to the fact that we have the power to step in and make people listen. And whenever others have stepped up, we’ve been paying attention. Just as I hope that others will pay attention to what we’re doing here. By coming out here today, and making your voices heard, you’re making it easier for others to build their own movements in their own companies, letting people know that they are not alone. Just building that safety and solidarity is enough to create lasting change.
Companies that have stuck by their principles and refused to sell have not, as far as I can tell, seen the apocalyptic shutout from markets or sales that some predict. Rather, they’ve received an outpouring of support and the knowledge that they are standing on the right side of history. But those companies that have decided that profits come before people, that being silent is easier than doing what’s right, haven’t been able to make this whole thing just go away.
One thing is clear: there’s no going back to business as usual. To quote Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, “gone are the days when companies can recruit and retain top talent without a commitment to values.” Students, even students at top tech schools like MIT and Stanford, have begun organizing at job fairs to lock out companies that support ICE, to make it clear that those organizations aren’t welcome. Talent, opportunities, and goodwill are already flowing out of companies that have chosen profits over people. I hope that’s not Tableau’s fate, as a pariah company attractive only to the unprincipled or the desperate.
In closing, I’d like to say that I’m here specifically because I believe in Tableau’s values and principles. I’ve been a writer, researcher, and advocate for the ethical use of data for years, and I want to feel like there’s a place for me at Tableau. But I’m tired of feeling like a hypocrite. I can’t write about humanizing data in my work and then take a paycheck from a company that refuses to state, clearly and without hesitation, what they stand for and what they can’t stand. I want to build a future together. But I can’t see a clear path to that future if we don’t decide now that there are some things that we, as a company and as people, cannot abide. We can’t stay silent, we can’t buy our way out of our ethical responsibilities, and we can’t pretend that we don’t have the power to make changes. That leaves us only the option to act.
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Summary statement: Drawing a Line
