The technology industry is the next frontier for civil rights, Rev. Jesse Jackson told hundreds who came to hear his speech at the University of Washington Tuesday night.
The message: Invest in education. Tech companies need to do more to train women and people of color and students need to advocate for themselves, he said. “There is no talent shortage, there is an opportunity shortage.”
The former presidential candidate and U.S. civil rights leader is in Seattle this week campaigning for greater diversity in the industry. He’s meeting with technology firms after a successful push to compel major companies to reveal numbers on workforce diversity. (See previous coverage: GeekWire Interview: Rev. Jesse Jackson sees parallels to civil rights movement in push for tech diversity)
The Tuesday night talk at Kane Hall was an opportunity to speak with students.
Jackson, who asked specifically for members of the university’s computer science and engineering department, urged students to fight, peacefully, for equal rights. “You drown when you stop kicking,” he said.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition founder drew parallels to unrest over a grand jury decision not to indict former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Some parts of the tech world are “at least as segregated as the Ferguson police force,” and students should be demonstrating against more than racism in law enforcement. “Hands up! Be fair. Hands up! Be just. Hands up! One set of rules,” he said.
Hadi Partovi, CEO of nonprofit Code.org who joined Jackson on stage, said a shortage of computer science classes in high school and beyond contributes to disparities within the industry.
“A computer doesn’t recognize whether you’re a girl or a boy or black or white,” he said. “If you can tell it what to do, it does not care – your teacher does.”
If children don’t have access to computer science in high school – whether it’s because of a lack of availability or a teacher’s encouragement – it’s unlikely they’ll pursue it in college, Partovi said.
The University of Washington has twice the national average percentage of women students studying computer science, but Partovi said there are still problems with access. Three times as many students apply to the program as can be accommodated.
Jackson says tech companies can do a lot to improve access by training its workforce domestically. He urged companies to bring offshore capital back to the U.S. and invest in education rather than employing immigrants through high-tech H-1B visas. “Repatriate some of that money and bring it home,” he said.
Jackson praised Microsoft for efforts to improve diversity within its workforce, but said the Redmond company is in “great contrast to Amazon,” which he criticized for a lack of transparency.
The reverend met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and joined the company’s shareholder’s meeting on Wednesday, asking the first question during the meeting and engaging in a dialogue with Nadella and chairman John Thompson.
But he said Amazon – which in October revealed 71 percent of its workforce is white, 14 percent Asian, 4 percent Hispanic and 4 percent black – has not been as accessible.
