Silicon Valley Has a
Race Problem
As a congressional representative in the Bay Area, I have the honor of representing one of the most diverse and vibrant communities in America.
My district is home to young people and seniors, African Americans, Latinos, white Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, veterans and members of the LGBT community.
My constituents care about many issues. They contact me about criminal justice reform, income inequality, our broken immigration system, infrastructure investments and more issues than I can name.
And they use many methods to reach out.
Some of them email me. Others tweet or comment on my Facebook posts and Youtube videos, or Instagram photos at local events and town hall meetings.
My diverse constituents, just like me, rely on technology to engage in politics, find their news and connect with their communities.
In fact, communities of color have adopted many new media tools at a faster rate than whites.
22% of African Americans use Twitter, compared to only 16% of whites.
Despite the overwhelming adoption of technology in communities of color, Silicon Valley has a dismal record of prioritizing workforce and leadership diversity.
As America continues to grow more diverse, tech companies are risking their very future by ignoring these communities.
This issue needs to be addressed and fast.
That’s why I helped launch the Congressional Black Caucus’s Tech 2020 Initiative.
Through transparency, education, corporate investments and a commitment to hiring and retaining diverse employees, we can break down the barriers and bring inclusion to our innovation economy.
If tech companies follow these principles and dedicate the necessary resources, I’m confident that we can achieve a truly inclusive tech workforce by 2020.
But this requires a serious commitment from tech companies.
The mindset needs to change. Instead of treating us merely as end users or target demographics, tech companies must see communities of color as a talent pool filled with tomorrow’s innovators, entrepreneurs and developers.
That is only way forward.
In an interview with Wired magazine back in 2002, Steve Jobs offered this explanation for why so many Silicon Valley ideas failed:
“A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”
I agree. Tech companies are holding themselves back by not including communities of color in their workforce.
The future is diverse; tech companies should be too.
