Tech Companies Embracing Societal Stigmas and Nurturing the After-Effects of Over-Prosecution

So I am writing this story because I feel that it is necessary to explain in full the issue of tech companies and their support for injustice, over-prosecution, and the on-going damage that they cause. After reading this story you will think differently about major tech companies in the industry such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Expedia and see things in a new light. This is the story you do not hear and I want to write it so that people can understand how things work.

Years back at 18 years old I was a victim of over-prosecution and received a mark on my record. While fortunately no one was harmed as a result of my actions the long-term effects are pretty bad. In the city of Seattle we have a law that states you do not have to answer yes to having lower crimes on your background so I said no. Because I did what the law suggested they ran the check anyways and fired me as a grocery bagger. Things are a bit ridiculous and had I had known this I’d have left this country in which I was born years ago for asylum from this insanity.

But I digress, this year I had an organization that helps people connect to internships with hundreds of companies. This means that my name was ran past hundreds of fortune 500 tech companies and they all rejected me. When I asked why I was notified that it’s because they have the right to be picky about who they choose to work for them.

The issue with that is that being picky and being prejudice without referring to fact or information are two different things. Yes, all of those companies that I mentioned at the start of this have participated in doing nothing for me and everyone else who has been either mis-prosecuted or over-prosecuted.

These are billion dollar companies that could hire the staff to respectably and reasonably screen people that have a criminal record. Yet they don’t because no one is holding them accountable for unjustly screwing over countless applicants for something that is a systemic problem; which they help contribute to.

There is a saying that goes if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. These companies are part of the problem and they know it yet until people start caring nothing will happen.

I wrote the mayor of Seattle about this and have yet to hear back from his office. When I got home and told my mom that everyone else got placed at one of the hundreds of fortunate 500 companies which the organization worked with and I was not she cried. My mom is 70 and disabled and it’s a bit hard for me to see her so sad and depressed.

But that’s just my story I’m sure there are many others that face such unfortunate and deliberately ignorant injustices from these tech companies.

What can you do to fight this? Share this article and spread the knowledge.