When Tech Giants are called to Congress to Testify, the Objective is Different.
Today, CEOs from Meta( Facebook), TikTok, X and a few others appeared before congress to answer questions about how they will respond to the problem of “Sexual predators. Addictive features. Suicide and eating disorders. Unrealistic beauty standards. Bullying[1].” CEO Mark Zuckerburg , near the end of the testimony, turned and gave an apology and promised to do better to a group of parents, advocates, and visitors present. Oh, did I mention that these social media sites are complicit in facilitating sexual predator’s access to children and suicide through their platforms? And while there were tears, yelling, and heavy congressional condemnation, these CEOs left a little bruised, but with their jobs and money, no fines, or threats to enact legislation that could help to curb or stop this problem. There were no calls for any of them to stepdown or pay heavy fines if they did not enact significant changes to stop these atrocities. They said all the right things and paused at the right moment, but there is business as usual with many of these social media platforms.
?
?About a month ago, 3 university Presidents from Ivy League schools were summoned to Congress to answer questions about student protests on their campuses.? Their failure to give answers that Congress wanted resulted in two of the Presidents stepping down, and with Harvard University ?billionaire donor withdrawing his support. Ken Griffin, CEO of Citadel ?Securities, LLC and billionaire stopped donations to Harvard because: “Are we going to educate the future leaders of the House, the Senate and IBM? he continued. Or are we going to educate a group of young men and women who are caught up in a rhetoric of oppressor and oppresses and ‘this is not fair and, frankly, just whiny snowflakes[2].” Just last week, another billionaire donor called for the resignation of the President of Cornell University over its DEI program.
?
Can we pause for a moment to remind people that Citadel Securities, LLC has an executive team that is 70% male and 30% female. 58% of the management team is White and 11% is Hispanic or Latino[3]. It is hard to find out if there are Black or Indigenous employees that are part of the executive team. In Market Maker companies, the industry is 92.1% male and 7.9% female. Males earn an average of $10,000 more per year than females and males dominate the top positions in the industry. The wage gap is more telling by race. The lowest salary of 93K/yr is earned by African Americans, and the highest by Whites, with Asians coming in with a second highest wage at 105K/yr and Hispanic/Latinos with third highest wage at 98K/yr[4] (an average ten-year income gap of $150,000). Citadel Securities, LLC is the largest of its kind in the industry with a strong holding on the New York Stock Exchange. It is clear that Mr. Griffin is not only color blind in his industry, but also to the organization he donates to and only wants to preserve what was. ?His blindness to the history of the institution that he supports and the industry that he makes his billions from is best captured when he said, referring to continuing donations to Harvard University “”I’d like to change and I’ve made that clear to members of the corporate board. But until Harvard makes it clear that they’re going to resume their role as educating young American men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers, to take on difficult issues – I’m not interested in supporting the institution[5].” This is code for end this DEI “crap” or the university will never see another dime from me.
?
Now, as the show in Washington unfolded and the CEOs of the largest social media platforms were admonished for making it easy for sexual predators to gain access to children, Dr. Gay’s life was ripped apart and, I assume, she is now forced to retire from teaching and administration, and Dr. Magill may never be able to seek another high-level executive position. The tone and language used at this congressional meeting was clear : Women and people of color who are leading prominent universities across the country are under attack. ?Nearly every reporter that reported on the congressional hearing of the three Presidents were quick to say “ yes, they should be held accountable”. What they were asking to be held accountable for is the tone and voice of the students during protests on their campuses and that they refused to acknowledge hate speech in the manner that members of congress wanted them to. Compare and contrast to the hearing with the social media CEOs where they apologized for the harm their platforms caused by allowing sexual abuse of children, bullying, suicide, and eating disorders. All that was needed was a simple apology and a promise to do better. ?How accountable did reporters want them to be?
?
It is becoming harder and harder to do the work around social justice and DEI.? A cornerstone of this work is for people to understand how we got to this point and the work that is needed to shift us to a better tomorrow. Underneath Mr. Griffin’s remarks is a longing to return to the days when it was easy to say what you wanted to say and did not have to worry about fallout, feelings, or consequences.? A time when sharing the sidewalk was based on local rule and not politeness as we all have the tight to use the sidewalk. A time when it was advantageous to promote you brother, family member, or friend and ignore the career aspirations of women and people of color. ?Many had learned to “ suck it up” and harnessed the survival skill mastered during ?slavery to “get on with it”. ?After turning the other cheek for over 400 years, in the words of MLK jr in his “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, ?“ I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience[6].”
领英推荐
?
Oddly, the words of Mr. Griffin are perfect.? His words embody the promise to the next generation: “…Until…it(is) clear that they [Harvard] are going to resume their role as educating young American men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers, to take on difficult problems”, like poverty, racism, misogyny, ?income inequality, suicide, and homelessness, this fight to tear down DEI, and anything or anyone who represents it, will continue and influencers like Mr. Griffin will have won, but very little will have changed on our social media platforms. ??
Thrilled to see your newsletter packed with value, AltoVita! ?? Remember, as Helen Keller once said - Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. Your dedication to bringing communities together and keeping everyone informed is truly inspiring. ??? Keep soaring high! ?? #Inspiration #CommunityBuilding #teamworksuccess
Human Resources and Social Justice and DEI advocate
1 年Two congressional hearing, two different outcomes, and two very different issues: Sexual predators online verses freedom of speech at the top three universities where women preside at President. Who is being help accountable for being female and/or a person of color and who simply has to apologize for their role in facilitating horrific crimes and suicide over their social media platforms?