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Jesse Jackson: Tech Diversity Is Next Civil Rights Step
theodp writes: U.S. civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson called on the Obama administration Monday to scrutinize the tech industry's lack of diversity. "There's no talent shortage. There's an opportunity shortage," Jackson said, calling Silicon Valley "far worse" than many others, such as car makers that have been pressured by unions. He said tech behemoths have largely escaped scrutiny by a public dazzled with their cutting-edge gadgets. Jackson spoke to press after meeting with Labor Secretary Tom Perez for a review of H-1B visas, arguing that data show Americans have the skills and should have first access to high-paying tech work. Jackson's Rainbow Push Coalition plans to file a freedom-of-information request next month with the EEOC to acquire employment data for companies that have not yet disclosed it publicly, which includes Amazon, Broadcom, Oracle, Qualcomm and Yelp. Unlike the Dept. of Labor, Jackson isn't buying Silicon Valley's argument that minority hiring statistics are trade secrets. Five years after Google's HR Chief would only reassure Congress the company had "a very strong internal Black Googler Network" and its CEO brushed off similar questions about its diversity numbers by saying "we're pretty happy with the way our recruiting work," Google — under pressure from Jackson — fessed up to having a tech workforce that's only 1% Black, apparently par for the course in Silicon Valley.
Follow the money.
Step #1 would be for not allowing people to look down on those who are smarter. Way too many people in the USA make it a point of pride that they are dumb.
White background. A little text here and there dotting the ceiling like fly specks. (That's a literary reference...any takers?)
This man has no credibility, and you IDIOT submitters and editors are giving him the spotlight. No wonder everyone left.
Tech isn't about equal rights. It's about if you are smart enough to get it done.
If there isn't a minority in there they are not smart enough.
It's bad enough we have to deal with the Indians and Chinese with their H1B Visas and working practically for free, the last thing we need to do is be forced
to work with someone who can't carry their own weight.
I can't speak for what it is like in Silicon Valley but where I work in the deep south I would estimate that at least 30% of my fellow tech workers are of African ancestry.
I'm confused... is Jackson arguing for more Americans, or more black people, or more black Americans, to get tech jobs?
After listening to Jackson over the years, it's now almost a reflex for me to argue against his statements. But I'm still sketchy on what they are in this case.
Libertarians are all for equality -- as long as those equals are also white men.
Posting as A. C because you are afraid to face the Black Man.
Comander Taco, Now is the time for a -1 RACIST moderation to put these peope in there places!
We need to stop teaching people that their skills and abilities matter and that the color of their skin is what is important right? That'll get rid of racism right? Effing liberals.
Rakim, Oakland: "See, computers are racist because they make them too hard to use. They need to make them easy like TV, so people in the community can have good jobs. Computers are made by whites and Chinese, and they don't like it when we try to get ahead.
http://joyreactor.com/post/566176
But I have a hard time referring to Rev. Jackson by the titular "US Civil Rights Leader" when in fact, he is most widely known for promoting the civil rights of a specific minority. Also, and again, I don't like where this is going. Hiring should be based on qualification of skill, and NOTHING else. Trying to make up for inequality of upbringing by arbitrating diversity standards is as stupid today as it was 20 years ago.
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
barack obama has proven once and for all there are no white people holding blacks back from anything. jesse jackson is just a failed attempt at maintaining the racial divide in the US. it is not white responsibility to make sure these various colors of people get ahead in our country. all they have to do is exactly how us responsible do; get your shit together, dont let crack or a joint distract you from your long term goals. no more excuses. and stop emulating people like snoop dog and others that brag abt drugs.
nothing is keeping you in 'the hood'. i am dirt poor and have lived in a middle-class neighborhood for over 30yrs. i rent a tiny one bedroom apt in a rental house, and im disabled. yes, i get less than 1k/mo, just like most of the blacks out there whining abt 'i only make min wage'. shut up, i have less income than you. just get your shit together n stay out of my hood.
Income from labor is heavily taxed while income from wealth is taxed to a much less extent.
There are a lot of rich "progressives" in tech that call for higher taxes on the rich but it's always higher taxes on income from labor that get put into law.
So how about a national property tax on assets, too, while we're fixing all the hypocrisy in IT land?
It's greed.. there are a lot of Americans with the skills... corporate america is greedy so they outsource.
soon outsourcing is going to bite them in the ass. who's going to buy corporate america's products ??? no americans and not anyone on an H1B visa.
lmao. what goes around comes around.
He seems convinced that the tech companies with the fewest black developers make the most amazing products.
It seems he's basically arguing that there's a correlation (and therefore maybe causality) between being diverse and not leading the market.
It's my understanding that many minorities are already over represented in the tech field when compared to how many get related degrees. If anything places like Google and Apple are disciminiating against white people with their hiring practices.
Fix the degree issue and the rest will work itself out.
Jesse Jackson: "I desperately need a new cause to trumpet, or I'm no longer going to be able to afford my lifestyle. Therefore, I shall identify a desperate need for my community, for which I shall naturally be named the spokesman. By this method I shall articulate a set of vague, impossible goals such that we can once again identify an entire culture as 'victims' of the nebulous (but nevertheless nefarious) forces that keep us "down". I shall continue attach myself to this I-hope-ever-growing-movement, in order to be able to pay for my cars, mistresses, and if I'm lucky, even the lawyers needed to keep my son out of prison. Perhaps I have finally found the cause celebre that will even allow me to ride into media sinecure, like that dirty sellout bastard Al Sharpton."
Well, that's what I heard, anyway.
I'd call his plan for IT diversity the Nationwide IT General Graduate Effectiveness Resource System. Come up with your own acronym as required.
The real question, for the IT community is, of course, does his plan ensure enough vaginas in IT departments? If not, then his victim train will have to wait until that one leaves the station.
-Styopa
...it's the content of one's culture.
If Jesse wants more people with his skin color in the tech industry, he needs to get more of them into the proper culture.
A thug mentality, and victimhood culture, does not succeed. A culture focused on academics, hard work, and personal responsibility does.
Hard to take him seriously when he's basically made himself very wealthy by "advocating" for blacks. It's hard to find anything he's done in the last 30 years that has had any meaningful impact, beyond lining his own pocket. But that hasn't stopped him from taking the soap box every chance he can get, before moving onto whatever new crisis comes up -- often leaving his previous efforts hanging.
Having an "equal opportunity" President is proving to be so popular, I can't wait for Mr. Jackson to be treated by an "equal opportunity" heart surgeon...
Not only is Silicon Valley young and Illiberal, they are also working on developing their businesses and would not sabotage their start-ups' success by turning away real talent.
Whatever the problem is, Silicon Valley's "racism" ain't it...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
> Jackson spoke to press after meeting with Labor Secretary Tom Perez for a review of H-1B visas, arguing that data show Americans have the skills and should have first access to high-paying tech work.
I usually find myself disagreeing with Jackson, but he seems to be on the right track here. I'm really hoping his involvement doesn't muddy the issue.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Oh good grief. Compare companies profit lines by diversity breakdown. I'd love to see if they compete in the market place.
I'm so tired of the hire - me - for - my - race crowd. Hire me because of my intelligence, creativity and work ethic. Geez.
Those liberal companies don't necessarily follow what they preach. Apparently Jackson hasn't received his annual check so it's time to remind them.
Mods, please ban the user Anonymous Coward for racist comment!
Mr. Jackson maybe your focus should be on Black's getting a better education and actually going to college for technical degree's. Maybe then these companies could actually hire a more diverse group of employee's. I myself have had enough of how many breaks people get in the US and yet you have Mr. Jackson crying foul at every little degree of unjust as he see's it in racial hiring. I would remind Mr. Jackson of how little American's in general focus on getting degree's in science, engineering, or any kind of technology. If you want those stats to change you have to convince the minorities to stay in school and not just get by on a token degree. That's the only way employer's can have the proper mix of people as workers.
From a NYT article:
As I read it, America is about 63% non-Hispanic white. Which sounds pretty close to Google's proportion of white technical staff.
It sounds like Jackson really needs to have a discussion as to why black people are being so out-hired by Asians.
I saw him cry like a baby when Obama was elected..
I kind of think he's for real.
On the other hand, as someone who has worked with very gifted African-American developers (at least here in Metro-Atlanta)* and who was offered a lucrative position because of his talents (technical AND social - he was GREAT to work with!), I am not so sure that there is a problem on the employer's side based upon my sample of one with a standard deviation of nonsense.
Oh! The '*' - we had a HUGE problem with our software. I was tasked with finding out WTF happened.
It was me. I fucked up.
Now, I was handed a GOLDEN opportunity to blame the black guy as Chris Rock would say.
I told the lead, "It was my code. Let me fix I know what I did."
Tech lead, "But it was something that [black guy's name] did to cause it, riiiight?"
"Nope. It was me."
"But there was something he did that made you think you needed to code it the way you did? Right?"
A bit terse: "Nope"
End of conversation.
End of jobs from that contracting company too.
Why did I do that? Because of my own sense of fairness, I really like the guy, and my own belief that talent and hard work should be rewarded and folks who make a mistake should have the opportunity to make it right and learn from it (that's me).
I think I was done a favor. I love tech but I hate working in it.
I mean what he wants is tech companies to hire minorities because of their race right? Wouldn't it be more fair to be colorblind in the workplace and hire people according to skill?
I'd bet a dollar that the offices of tech companies outside of Silicon valley are a bit more diverse. What are the stats on offices in Atlanta, NYC, or Chicago? Not everyone is willing to move to the valley in pursuit of a six figure paycheck and 100 hour work week.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
I have a dream that my four little computers will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their case, but by the content of their harddrives.
Does the article really mean to say "lack of diversity"? My company's IT department is a little over 80% east Indian, which although technically (probably) meets the definition of "lack of diversity", misses the usual colloquial definition of "too many white guys".
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Sadly, Silicon Valley's rampant ageism goes on unchallenged. Not everyone is affected by race, but eventually everyone is affected by age.
Jesse needs a strawman to stay relevant and keep the cash flowing in. Nothing more to see here.
Jesse Jackson is a master at crying out racism. This skill resulted in his family getting the beer distribution rights for Bud at Wrigley field and other venues. I would see his cries about silicon valley for what they are, a shakedown.
Programming/software development is a field that does not tolerate sub-par performers, while for the most part recoginizes exceptional performers.
Maybe there is something to the SV culture that's either rotten or just too self-absorbed to acknowledge there may be a problem. I'm down in SoCal (LA) and having worked for several small tech shops, I've never seen the issues that a lot of folks complain about up in SV. My workgroup is 50% female, and other than my manager, everyone is a minority (black, asian, indian-asian (and not H1Bs). Upper management tends to be of the white-male variety (I dunno, do we count gingers in that?) although our CEO is white female. I've been on the interview panels and it's not like we were hiring for diversity. We were just looking for people who had the technical know-how and personalities that would not be detrimental to our work group. And, I must add, our women engineers are engineers, not just "tech evangelists" or "tech spokeswomen" and the like that seem to get a lot of controversial press up there. Our black developers? The same. Maybe there really is a tech-bro-fraternity mentality in the SV, I've not moved up there to find out for myself (and as an asian, I don't imagine I'd actually see much of it directed against me, but who knows? More likely, I'd face issues because I'm over the age of 40).
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
I'm beyond it. Our parents aren't. But I think my generation is beyond it. Once they phase out of leadership roles, I think parasites like Jessie will find they have guilt upon which to feed.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Hate to say it, but a shakedown is EXACTLY all you'll get out of Jesse Jackson and other racial hustlers like him. They want:
1) Publicity for themselves
2) [a distant 2nd] No-show jobs that they can hand out as patronage
3) Businesses to feel an obligation to hire a mandatory percentage of *certain* minorities (Asians not included, of course), whether the people they're hiring are qualified or not. This will of course lead to great resentment among the whites and Asians who ARE qualified, and resent that Tyrone and Nakeesha get paid to basically sit in a corner and do nothing all day (on days they bother to even show up) because the company doesn't want to be called racist.
Posting AC because you're all a bunch of politically-correct liberal pussies who mod down anyone who doesn't hold blacks and women as the perfect creatures and dares suggest that white men and Asians might actually have any redeeming qualities.
I was once told that I'd be working primarily with white males, because only one out of every 200 candidates that apply to work there fit that demographic.
Whenever I hear about stuff like this I sometimes think that they'll succeed in getting more minorities into tech--just in time for the economic focus to shift someplace else.
People who have education and wealth will always be on the leading edge of the curve. Whatever the next economic focus is, they'll find it. Jackson would better serve his community by giving them the tools they need to be aware of opportunity. He can't give them wealth in any meaningful way, so he should just focus on fixing education.
Yes, overt racism needs to be addressed. If tech companies were deliberately refusing to hire people just because they don't fit a category, that needs to be addressed. This isn't the real problem though. I've worked alongside a few Blacks and Hispanics in techs. They were just as qualified as the Whites; just fewer in number. There was no racism problem, just the *legacy* of prior racism that lead to the lower numbers.
You can't fix these problems overnight, and you'll make it worse if you try.
When I went to university there was no shortage of blacks there in general, just a shortage of them studying for STEM degrees.
We are on the opposite ends of the ideological rainbow (no pun intended), but I agree with part of what he is doing. The USA has plenty of high tech workers to fill any voids in the IT world here in the USA. If the number of H-1B visas should change, it would be to lower it, in my opinion. Definitely, do not increase this number.
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Shut up you idiots. Just shut up and die.
Stop destroying the world.
You deserve to die and be tortured before you do.
You are sick people.
You are idiots.
Just fucking die already or we will help you.
This seems to only happen in a government setting. Am I right?
I work in the in Metro Atlanta and I had a few (quite talented I might add) African-American developers. One saved my ass with an encryption routine.
Geoffry was this Nubian -as he referred to himself - very sharp coder/developer/computer scientist/ or what ever title you want to give him.
Back in Boca Raton, my boss was this African-American who was a cross between Link on Mod Squad and Mr. Rogers. Brilliant developer who had the management-leadership skills that would melt the brains of the best.
If I were a rich man....yabba dabba doo ... I'd give him a billion dollars and make him rich too - and me richer.
Companies with job openings on U.S. soil must allow all qualified candidates to compete. That's what EEO law says. It governs corporate behavior. If the corporation's hiring results don't represent the domestic workforce, they are blocking qualified candidates in their recruiting and hiring.
As 3 tech advocacy groups show, Manpower, IBM, and Infosys are blocking qualified candidates. Jackson is right. We white-collar workers should have the first crack at job openings on U.S. soil--just like blue-collar workers do.
Congress requires companies with blue-collar job openings to seek and hire Americans first before recruiting abroad. However, all white-collar visa programs are missing this requirement--and verification.
This is what we want fixed, and what Jackson wants fixed. Blocking qualified candidates with visa programs just exacerbates race, age, gender, and national origin discrimination.
Donna Conroy, Director
brightfuturejobs.com
My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."
I don't get it...I worked hard and was determined, and built my career from the ground up, WITHOUT a college degree. I don't understand why or even how I've continuously found work in an industry that needs a civil rights movement...? Should I ask the myriad of previous and current minority co-workers their experiences and trials/tribulations in attempting to break into this industry with such a color barrier? This is a fucking slap in the face of the ACTUAL civil rights movement of the past, and it sickens me.
Yes! I was rejected for a job at Google once. Now I will be able to tell everyone it was only because I'm white. ;-)
Seriously though, while I agree that hiring should be based on qualifications and not race/gender (or being a USian for that matter you bunch of nationalists), if an industry has so few non-white guys we need to take a long hard look at ourselves to check that there's no unfairness going on.
The fact that almost all professional atheletes are Black is Racist!
As a retired executive of a small east coast engineering services firm (and familiar with numerous other execs over a twenty some year career who all felt similar), all it takes is the right skills at the right price to get the job. I'd hired you if you were black, white, brown, or purple if you had the skills we needed at a price we could afford. Our biggest customer was the federal government, and when asked by a minority manager at that goverment agency why we didn't employ more of HIS minority members I noted that the firm was already about 25% total monority hiring. I then asked how I should choose between two equally qualified job candidates; one a member of the manager's minority group, and the other not a minority. The manager stammered and stuttered and was unable to provide any answer. When I suggested I would chose the candidate who would cost the business the least (salary and benifits) you would never have believed the dumbfounded look on the manager's face when hit with the realization that there might be more to hiring than race.
When was the last time higher taxes on income from labor got put into law?
I'm in Cambridge MA, and in 15 years I have interviewed exactly two African American (out of hundreds of interviews) tech workers and both were not close to qualified for the jobs they were interviewing for.
There's a shortage of candidates!
He doesn't need to.
Black Computer Science graduates essentially reached parity in 2006, capturing 12.4% of CS degrees. no longer can they be dismissed as an “under-represented minority”.
I am an Indian (asian) and work in SF and have worked in a few big tech companies down in the valley. I understand that people like Jesse Jackson spew a lot of rhetoric for their own cause not necessarily for upliftment of the people he supposedly represents. And, I also understand, the solution isn't as easy as making tech companies have some sort of affirmative action - if there aren't enough black people with basic tech skills or college degrees then affirmative action isn't going to help. All that said, it is bizarre - in all the places I have worked including the current, there isn't a single black person on the entire floor. And, think, places like Oakland are just right across the Bay here but so few black people on the tech workforce. It speaks volumes about the failed social integration of black people in this nation - and it has failed at so many levels - from basic primary education, healthcare, law enforcement to higher education and outright discrimination. It doesn't matter who's to blame for it, really because at end of the day, you have a population that isn't as functional as the rest and we should be fixing that. Instead, we have these arguments where people don't even seem to recognize the problem.
He's spent an entire career preying on racism for profit. How else is he to remain relevant?
Re: this comments subject:
- If we had racial equality, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have to get real jobs, rather than become millionaire talking heads who make their bank off the blood of America's black community.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Jesse Jackson is a Professional Victim. 'Nuff said.
Jesse Jackson is a crook and runs a business, not a charity... it's called the Rainbow/PUSH coalition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...
They show up, accuse your business/industry of racism, do not letup until... you donate money to their cause, then they drop the issue.
It's a scam.
Just take a look at NASCAR.
About 15yrs ago, NASCAR tried to break out of the south and become a mainstream sport. They were largely successful. Jesse Jackson saw this as an opportunity, went on morning talk shows and accused the industry of racism for their lack of black participants. Now, I'm not even going to argue that point... there are very few African Americans in NASCAR. It may very well have a problem with race... that's not the problem.
What's the problem then? NASCAR then donated around $250,000 to Jesse Jacksons Rainbow Coalition and suddenly they were right with black America, Jessie Jackson dropped the issue and said NASCAR didn't have a race problem. NASCAR didn't add a single black employee or change any of their policies. The problem isn't that there isn't a racial divide in NASCAR or even Silicon Valley. The problem is Jessie Jackson doesn't care. He just wants to use that disparity to extort money from those businesses. He's a scam artist and a crook, and it's sad he's seen with such reverence in this country. He's done nothing but harm the black community and he should be ashamed of himself.
yes, this is the case. Glad you spoke up.
The AFL-CIO reports that more
African Americans earn more computer-related degrees than Asians or Hispanics.[8]
In 2010, 4,565 Bachelor’s degrees were awarded to African Americans in computer and information science. African Americans earned 1,193 more Bachelor’s degrees than Asians and 1,623 more than Hispanics.
Also in 2010, African American students earned 1,324 Master’s degrees in computer and information sciences.
see more here: http://www.brightfuturejobs.com/they_want_you_to_blame_us
Donna Conroy, Director
The major cause of the lack of minority and women computer programmers was a financial barrier to entry.
Today, you can get a desktop computer for $250. You can get a tablet for $300. You can get a laptop for $400. You can get an Android smartphone for $600, all pretty much medium to high end hardware, nothing second hand or used. 15 years ago, you had to invest a minimum of $1000 to get a new computer, and $1500 would give you something more reasonable. Importantly, decent home broadband connections are now affordable for all but the poorest individuals.
The difference between someone becoming a computer programmer and making millions of dollars throughout his or her career and someone not in the field might now only be a few hundred dollar initial investment whereas when I was a kid it was thousands of dollars. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about that large investment anymore, so this aspect of the problem has solved itself.
There are plenty of scholarship opportunities for minority and women computer programmers, but they need to get started way before college. Nobody learns programming at the university. If you're doing programming for the first time at the university, then very likely you'll never want to do it again. The programming work you do at school is dull, formulaic, theoretical, useless, and often frustrating.
Standard shakedown: accuse a business of racial discrimination, make a bunch of noise in the press, which he will stop if the company in question pays him to fuck off.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Pervade the industry.
Is this not diverse enough for him?
It's handled in the Junior College Introductory Electronics courses. It's too bad more people don't make the 2 year pitstop before burdening themselves with debt at a nice 4+ year college....
So it has come to this, where we have to cry "racisim" to give jobs to Americans first?
If playing that card gets some results, then fine. Something has to be done.
Any American company that outsources to India is already an unpatriotic terrorist traitor that takes food out of the mouths of American children. And they are racist too. Frikin golden-brown supremacists.
Anytime Jesse Jackson gets involved, you know it's more about skin color than relevant metrics.
In some cultures, we might call that "racist".
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Why is Jesse Jackson only protesting about the rights of African and Latino Americans instead of the rights of ALL Americans?
Isn't that the very defintion of being blatantly racist?
Maybe he needs to start working on finding ways to increase the talent pool of black candidates. How many black graduates are there each year with CS/EE/CE degrees? There's the problem.
15 years ago when I was doing my EE undergrad (at small university) there was 2-3 black students in a class of ~80. In grad school (big public university) there weren't any (at least no native American, not counting African immigrants). This needs to be addressed first.
The other candidates acted more like a monkey than he did?
Maybe next election we should throw bananas and weed out the 'wrong' candidates that way.
So rather than asking why there aren't more blacks in tech, and addressing those issues (which mostly center on the welfare state and drug war destroying black culture), Jesse is going to pretend to still be relevant by trying to get racial hiring quotas in the tech industry. Oh joy...
Racism against minorities is about as common in the US as polio (both exist only due to small pockets of people who ignore reason and logic). Jesse needs to keep fanning the flames on anything he can. Otherwise he'd have to get a productive job...like the white, Indian, and Chinese techies he wants to get fired.
How come Jesse isn't concerned with the lack of diversity in professional basketball?
In my past 15+ years in the tech field, working in the bay area as well as elsewhere (all California however), I've met perhaps a handful of African American developers. I've worked with one. I also worked with one sys-admin guy who was African American. And a technical recruiter. That's about it. I don't remember any being in any of my classes in college either, at least not the computer science ones.
He's not too busy getting his post-life dick wet, just like Clinton?
This and many similar disparities are only solvable with enhanced K-12 education in low-income, low-performing areas. Yes, that means spending more federal/state dollars per capita than in median income areas. More teachers (that stay for more than 3 years), smaller classrooms (that also have heating, cooling, and supplies), and more reliable funding. It does not suffice to provide equal state funding-- we got shit to fix.
Not enough minorities at Microsoft? What's the proportion of minorities in the tech field?
Not enough minorities in the tech field? What's the proportion of minorities taking STEM majors?
Not enough minorities in STEM majors? How prevalent and to what quality was their STEM education in K-12?
It always comes back to the K-12 education. Crime, poverty, treatment of women, minority imbalance in industry-- How good was the education?
Want to fix the future? Focus on the education of the poor.
This is not a racist rant, but a realistic look at some of the issues Jackson might want to address within the black community first before taking his usual stance of blaming everyone else:
72% of black kids born out of wedlock (compared to 17% for Asians). The Rev [cough] Jackson himself had an affair & fathered a child with another woman.
Double the unemployment rates of whites (roughly 5.4 to 11.5% as of last month)
Why doesn't he talk about the negative affects of hip-hop culture (glorifying violence, promoting misogynistic attitudes to an extreme, promotes wealth through any (often illegal) means)
On average, African American twelfth-grade students read at the same level as white eighth-grade students. 54% of African Americans graduate from high school, compared to more than three quarters of white and Asian students. [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/too-important-to-fail/fact-sheet-outcomes-for-young-black-men/]
50% of the murders in the country are committed by black men, who comprise only 6% of the total US population. NEVER talks about, but will spend endless hours race baiting over a single case like Martin.
Look at the murder rate in Chicago, his home town (and the perps)
As a liberal myself, Jackson's race baiting and racial profiteering sickens me -- he only uses his racial politics to advance his own ego and fatten his wallet. He hasn't been a civil rights leader in decades in my opinion, he's a self serving jerk who actually promotes racism, a dependence culture and victim mentality. He's done more damage to the black community than good, but is such a smooth talker, his fans don't see it.
'The unexamined life is not worth living' - Socrates
First: I'm white and I'm not a liberal. Seriously, people indicting Jackson here, and by implication defending the BS practices of high tech, with their H1-B abuse, where there IS recism at work, including racism of the kind where many, many recruiters in SV are of Indian origin, and who "hire their own". THIS is reality. What about ageism in SV?
And don't go telling me that SV is a meritocracy!! There are so many incompetent operators (including coders) in the SV pig pen that it isn't even funny. Have you forgotten that almost everything that is put out for sale these days is bug-ridden? Get a life!
And, Go Jesse! Bring it to these tech companies who have been getting away with EVERYTHING while they walk away with profit at the expense of everyone else.
Somehow I think Ebonics and Science might produce some unintended consequences?
...as long as code quality, intellect, and communications/social skills are present in the candidate. The issue is the lack of such attractive candidates (of ANY color)!
Google — under pressure from Jackson — fessed up to having a tech workforce that's only 1% Black, apparently par for the course in Silicon Valley.
And if they want to continue being successful, they'll keep it that way.
That said our boss was quite a progressive guy and reached out to hire a black guy and several typical American women. The women were a disappointment. It has to be said that they proved to be demanding low performers. Had high expectations of everything and everyone else, but didn't really put points on the board for the team. In talks about the women I learned the US English codeword PITA, not the flat bread, but Pain In The A**. It was true.
The black guy turned out well. In the first couple months he was very reserved and looking back I think he was very keen to not make mistakes or rub anyone the wrong way. But man, after that first 90 days or so, he relaxed and realized we weren't going to bite him, and he started learning the craft with real zeal. He was one of the hardest working fellows I ever met in my time in the U.S.
I think the dynamic is that black people in the U.S. are all too accustomed to having "the prize" and opportunity dangled in front of them, and then snatched away once someone has got what they wanted from that black person. So they I think have learned to regard the larger American system with suspicion or at least much caution. However if they see by actions and not words that something is the real deal, the team is there and they are part of it, no bait and switch, they really get fired up and loving it.
...one of the biggest problems for getting minorities in STEM fields is that they're trapped in horrible schools run to benefit teacher's unions rather than students.
Indeed, some are so bad that at least one judge has found such schools to be a violation of the student's constitutional rights.
The first step to fixing the problem is freeing minority students from lousy union schools.
>. I pray, when they die, the ghost of MLK spends eternity bitch-slapping the both of them day in and day out.
That put a smile on my face. MLK was a leader, one of the best. Jackson is not a leader, he's a whiner. Also a liar. WWhas it Jesse or Sharpton who was about 8 years old when he started calling himself "Reveren"? Either way, they're the same - professional whiners. Where exactly is your church, reverend? I'll try to avoid having my daughter exposed to either of them, lying and telling her she can't do anything because of her complexion.
I'll assert that even more pernicious than drug and gang culture is the culture of *victimhood*. When you believe that your failings are not your personal responsibility, and instead insist that they are someone else's fault, and that you must wait and demand for reparation from that someone else before life can continue, you end up in a morass. Mr. Jackson lives in this morass full time.
Problem is, racism is stereotyped. White males are assumed to be racist, women and blacks are assumed to be less racist. Ask 10 slashdotters if white male hiring managers would be racist in their ratings of resumes, or if women and black hiring managers would be racist in their ratings of resumes, and I'll bet they'll rate the white male highest in terms of racism :)
There is an echo chamber of social prejudice where the social prejudice of given groups is taken as natural and confirmed.
The fact of the matter? I've met more black racists than white ones. YMMV.
I just had an interesting idea. If there is a disparity in the diversity of an industry, then when beginning university we should mandate that equal portions of people attend each major. We already trying to do it to businesses. Why not extend it to the university? It doesn't make any sense. I think businesses are so money hungry these days they do not care about race. Most will pick the most qualified individual for the lowest pay they can find them. Don't blame industry because of differing cultural interest in university.
For some reason, Americans have developed a stereotype of "white" and "black" that is related far more to social class than anything else. When you say "white," we imagine someone from the middle class. When you say "black," we imagine someone from lower socioeconomic status. How many blacks are in the middle class, I'm not sure, but as for whites in lower classes, we have them coming out our ears. While we may have millions of blacks who live in ghettos, we have 10 times as many whites living in trailor parks.
Because of our confusion between ethnicity and social class, we end up with things like Dave Chappelle's "Racial Draft": http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/blogs/2013/06/chappelles-show-june5-racial-draft
While amusing, it highlights the real problem, and this false stereotype is widespread throughout American culture.
I recall an interview with Bill Cosby, talking about educational advancement among black children. Peers discourage each other from studying because it's "acting white." When in fact it is "acting middle class," because this same kind of discouragement occurs among lower class whites as well. As long as education is not valued within any group, that group will have difficulty being equally represented in white collar industries.
What we have to work out to explain the disparity between population demographics and white collar job demographics is the proportions of the underrepresented groups who discourage education. People like Jesse Jackson want to make this all out to be the result of prejudice on the basis of genetics or skin color. Honestly, I think we're long past that. There are still plenty of racist bastards out there, but in general, we do not have pink people acting intentionally or unconsciously to undermine the advancement of brown people when it comes to getting college degrees.
It's not PC to talk about genetic differences, but genetics is interesting. Geneticists have identified differences between different ethnic groups, and they have correlated them with some minor differences in physical and cognitive adaptations. Things like muscle tone, susceptibility to certain diseases, social ability, and other things have been correlated to a limited degree with variation in human DNA. But the average differences between genetic groups are miniscule compared to their overlap (statistically, we have very small mu / sigma for basically any meaningful measurable characteristic).
Thus I can only conclude that correcting any disparities must come from within. Regulating businesses won't do any good, because unqualified minorities will end up getting unfairly hired and promoted. We have to start with the children and get them to develop an interest in science and math. If Jesse Jackson wants to fix this problem, he need to learn science and math and start teaching it. I assure you, even at his age, he has that capability, if he just cared enough to do it. Unfortunately for him, if he were to corrupt himself with this knowledge, he would find himself taking a wholly different approach than the "we're victims" schtick he's played most of his life. Personally, I prefer the "the universe is awesome" philosophy held by Neil deGrasse Tyson. He's one of my biggest heroes, having nothing to do with his skin tone.
One last though: I'm sure someone will find something racist in what I have said. Either that or I'm being too anti-racist and appear like I'm overcompensating. There are also aspects of these social issues I know nothing about. I'm just writing a comment on Slashdot that is about as well-informed as any other comment. One thing people should think about in general is whether or not they have hidden prejudices. It's not their fault, having been brought up in a culture that takes certain thing for granted. Instead of burying our heads in the sand, we should be willing to admit that we probably do have subconscious prejudices. That's okay, as long as we consciously behave in a way that is fair to other human beings, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, autism, or any other thing they didn't choose to be born with (and plenty of things they have chosen, because it's people's right to choose).
>. I pray, when they die, the ghost of MLK spends eternity bitch-slapping the both of them day in and day out.
That put a smile on my face.
Glad I could do that for ya!
MLK is one of my personal heroes, right up there alongside Nikola Tesla and Samuel Clemens. Which is what makes it hilarious, for me, when I bitch about Jackson and Sharpton, and someone has the nerve to call me a racist for it.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
If a company is too white, it's racist... because if the black population hovers at 13% then not hiring at least 13% blacks is racism!
This works everywhere, right? Let's say... 0.2% of the world population is Jewish. Anything more than 0.2% representation in banking, media, law, etc... is racism.
Or so the guilty white libs insist.
Let's clean house. It's time to "diversify!"
I think this is the only thing you can expect when high schools in predominantly Black neighborhoods are largely terrible, and have military recruiting the likes of which you simply wouldn't believe if you hadn't already read about it.
Like every goddamn diversity problem I think the solution is to fix education. But that would require spending money on teachers instead of just setting hiring quotas for businesses.
So I guess that means the situation is utterly hopeless.
In my 30 years of software management, I was presented exactly once with a black candidate, and I hired him. Excellent programmer and co-worker. I don't know why, but there just aren't many black candidates. How can we achieve parity if there are no candidates?
Poor asian kids, fresh off the boat, in crappy neighborhoods, focus on survival but still excel in academics and escape the poverty trap.
Certain cultures of poor american kids, born and raised in a victimhood culture, in crappy neighborhoods, focus not only on survival, but denigrate any of their peers who attempt to "act white" by speaking proper english or focusing on academics. These people don't escape the poverty trap.
We've long gotten past the point in time where whitey is actually doing any oppressing - the victimhood culture *oppresses itself*, by making it anathema to actually succeed.
The looters are coming to plunder our fields
"Posting AC because you're all a bunch of politically-correct liberal pussies who mod down anyone who doesn't hold blacks and women as the perfect creatures and dares suggest that white men and Asians might actually have any redeeming qualities."
Absolutely!!!!! I am a 5 digit /. member and was modded so low, nothing I said was seen by anyone else....so much for freedom of speech or open to opposing view points.......I only visit /. once or twice a month and post AC if I stay on long enough.
As one of the down trodden minorities that work in IT as a software engineer (CS degree and MA in Chemistry) i don't want or need this mans help. All he is a poverty pimp shilling for cash from companies. I don't care if your black, white, red, blue or whatever. If you cannot handle do IT work I don't want you.
Ricci v. DeStefano http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB124640586803076705
Fisher v. University of Texas http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/09/supreme-court-affirmative-action/1623487/
Michigan Proposal 2 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/supreme-court-michigan-affirmative-action-ban.html?_r=0
Just lower the standards until all the black people are hired. Then lower them so more for all the illiterate Mexicans. And so on.
There have been questions of my ability to do what is on my resume that are legit.
I do a lot of technical interviewing, and that is the whole point of a technical interview, to verify that you actually do possess the skills that you have claimed to possess.
It's not because you're black. It's because you're interviewing. I could tell so many stories of wild resume claims, you'd laugh.
Here's one from today, for an interviewee who was an "expert in J2EE".
Q: What are some different types of EJBs and how do they differ from one another?
A: [uncomfortable silence].
Q: Sorry, let's back up a bit. Tell me about your role in your last project that used J2EE.
A: Uhh, I think I made a JSP once in college before I left to go work at a startup.
As you might expect, his resume got filed away in the recycling bin.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
In my experience race or skin color has never been a factor when hiring in the tech companies I've worked at.
We'd hire a pink martian if he could do the job.
So perhaps these entitled fucks would care more about meeting the job requirements than whining for quotas based on irrelevant things.
If Jackson is actually worried about racial diversity, wouldn't his proposed solution (drastically reducing the number of foreign workers by cutting H-1B visas) actually make the problem worse?
Senator blasts Microsoft for hb1 push and firing 18000 workers
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kedfVAbXNy0
and here is a petition to stop the hb1
http://www.petition2congress.com/7637/abolish-h1b-visa-program/
"Pay my Rainbow Coalition money or I'll make trouble"
There should be more diversity in sports. Top basketball and football teams come to mind. All colors of skin should be represented proportionally.
Jesse is nothing more than a race baiting N-Word who wants to fill his own coffers with his schemes
... their own countries... AGAIN.
None of this nonsense would be happening.
All the insane whites who actually want to live with non-whites could do so in NON-WHITE COUNTRIES. What a crazy idea, right?
Senator blasts Microsoft for hb1 push and firing 18000 workers
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kedfVAbXNy0
and here is a petition to stop the hb1
http://www.petition2congress.com/7637/abolish-h1b-visa-program/
Sign the petition and help solve the problem for everyone America united anyone?
Ceci n'est pas une racist rant
And if you look at the rest of the data (i.e. the "National Center for Education" "Digest of Education Statistics" "Table 322.30") :
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_322.30.asp
You will notice, that if you breakdown the ethnicity into percentages of degrees conferred, for "computer and information sciences" for 2011-2012, you will see there were 47,384 Bachelor degrees earned by students, of which 30,211 identified as "white" (63.75%), 5,410 as "black" (11.41%), 4,008 as "hispanic" (8.45%), and 4,254 as "asian" (8.97%). There are also another 2,360 "non-resident alien" listed which no ethnicity is given.
Now looking at people working at Yahoo!, 50% White (13% less than percentage earning degrees in USA in 2011-2012), 39% "asian" (30% more than percentage earning degrees), 4% hispanic (4-5% less than percentage earning degrees), 2% black (9% less than those earning degrees).
If you look at all the other companies on that list linked in the article, you will see roughly the same trend, with "whites" having about the same proportional makeup of the companies as there are those getting degrees, asians having a much higher percentage of the workforce than are getting degrees in the US (wow, not surprising since we are importing most of this labor via H1B, green card, immigration), and blacks and hispanics having slightly lower than the amount they graduate.
Now the lower amounts of blacks and hispanics may very well be simply due to location. The companies they looked at are Silicon Valley companies, with the majority of their workforce in California. California has a much lower percentage of blacks than say Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, etc... If you even slightly believe that the percentage of graduates are equally spread out across the nation's schools based on percentage of population in the schools, and that attendance in schools more closely mimics the population in the state (not always, there are historically african american shools as well women only or male only schools, and schools certain ethnicities would never even want to go to for many reasons), and take into consideration that most people will tend to stay close to home/family when searching for a job, and you will see that the breakdown of ethnicity in Silicon Valley tech companies is probably really not that out of step with the percentage of population in the labor market in Silicon Valley.
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
Also, I would go further, and state that simply looking at bachelor degrees does not really do justice for the statistics for those being hired by the Silicon Valley firms. If you look at doctoral degrees in Computer and Information sciences, the breakdown is 73% white, 3% black, 10.7% asian, 4.5% hispanic, of which 71.4% are male, and 28.6% are female. This reflects MANY of the disparages in workforce makeup at these companies. These companies are supposedly the best of the best, and brightest of the brightest, which means it will reflect closely those same best of the best and brightest of the brightest coming out of the education system (which means doctorates, post-doctorates, etc.).
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
JJ meets his Waterloo when he barges into the electronics lab. Even the black people in the electronics/high tech biz are about as far away from being black as you can be. All fifty of them.
For 400 years, the Afro-american community has been desperately breeding a certain type of individual. A type of person who can survive slave work and still pass their inherent africaness into the next generation. After 20 solid generations, they created the 'African-American'.
The technology industry is almost as old (if you see the industrial revolution and beginning of science as part of the tech industry). It too has created a certain individual type: the nerd.
The A-As and the nerds are about as far apart as people can be. All the characteristics bred into one group were bred out of the other group. They can barely talk to each other, even when they speak the same language.
The tech industry hires two types of people: nerds and people who support the needs of nerds. And since the tech industry is one of the most important industries in the world today, (along with food production and high finance) , they get to choose who they will pay to work for them.
The only reason the nerds will hire black people is as office pets. And then only the ones who know the difference between flux and a capacitor. And the ones "just know" without being specifically taught that you can type "ST7735R" into Google when you want to get the 250 page manual of a thin-flat-transistor screen. And who would never bring up the subject of "mah dih'que" in the workplace. Not too many people like this around, and the ones that are, are already working in the high tech biz.
So let's just redirect our conversation to the vast legacy of great JJ jokes that have written over the past half century. Old standards like:
Q: What's this? fee foh fii - fii fee foh foh A: JJ's telephone number (from 1977)
-or, the more esoteric,
JJ visited the Middle East and met with Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat. After the meeting, JJ was overheard saying to himself: "...been a long time since I said 'Yah, sir' to anyone".
Jackson should focus on STEM education, because shoving people into jobs they can’t do is just as bad as preventing them from getting the job in the first place.
I work at Microsoft. There is one black person in my department. Despite being rated “5” for two years in a row (lowest 7% under the old rating system) and queued up for a “lowest-impact” rating this year (again the lowest score in the new rating system), he has kept his senior-level job while other low performers have been pushed out. He is so utterly incompetent and unable to learn that his new manager very gently inquired if he might be mentally disabled. (Possibly a third protected class, since he’s also over 40.)
The layoffs have not hit our division yet, and the domestic purge (so far) is targeted at older workers with higher salaries who have not been promoted in 3 or more years. It will be interesting to see if they will take the opportunity to get rid of him, or if being “African American” in tech really does make one immune to actual evaluation.
-Posting AC for obvious reasons.
It's fucking 2014. Any organization that hasn't migrated services away from EJBs must be incubating a pathetic, toxic excuse of a development environment. That job would have happily dragged your programming skills down to its level of crap and then beaten your professional passion to death. EJBs are enterprise shit-ware designed around 1999's technological constraints paired with Suns consulting/sales driven ideas about how to make money. Don't touch them. Let them die.
*** Sigs are a stupid waste of bandwidth.
Sorry. Misread your statement. Guess I was just in so much shock from the notion of anyone actively using EJBs for anything.
*** Sigs are a stupid waste of bandwidth.
Plain and simple. If you show promise that you can produce for a company, you are hired. If you do produce and keep that up, you are not fired. Yes, there is color involved here. It is the color green (ok, in light of bitcoins, the color reference is losing its meaning).
So, now the burden shifts from the company that is hiring to society at large. Does everybody have the same opportunity to learn their trade and produce for the company? No. That has been an issue long before the tech surge and has been discussed, acted upon and continues to be acted upon. If Jesse Jackson would like to re-focus his efforts back on that aspect; no argument.
Around 2000 or so had a black guy in his 20s come in, dressed to the nines, well spoken, really likeable guy. I was his first interview and, when I met him in the lobby, he had an older white guy with him. hmmm. My interview technique is to start with softball questions to get them to relax, then get harder and harder questions. I don't want to stress them out, I want them to be themselves and give me an idea of what they know and how easy they will be to work with.
This kid couldn't answer my softball question. Couldn't even try, he had no clue. Tried an easier question, utter failure. I kept dumbing down my questions, and it wasn't until we got to data types that he could, eventually, come up with an answer. He couldn't even answer questions from his resume.
Thing was, as the interview went on I got to like this kid more and more. Really nice kid who seemed to have read a quick tutorial on C but had never so much as written a hello world.
My guess is he was a disadvantaged kid who went to some program, the program did a week of classroom, no lab, wrote his resume, loaned him a suit, got him an interview, drove him there, and presented them as an experienced C programmer to companies.
Competence trumps race. I don't care what color you are - if you know your shit, you're hired. If you're just a mouth, move on.
I always thought the next step for civil rights was getting better proponents than Jesse Jackson.
I don't often say this, but I agree with Rev Jackson on this one. I'm middle age right leaning white guy .
Jackson and others routinely take the position that corporations are money grubbers that only care about profit. If that is true; why would they not hire a qualified candidate, regardless of ancestry? I strongly suspect, as another poster alluded, that this is a problem specific to Silicon Valley. But, it is clearly ripe for plundering by shakedown scammers like Jackson, who has perfected this sort of swindle to a high level.
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."
-- Pablo Picasso
Instead of the BEST and the brightest, clowns like Jesse Jackson & Al (not so)Sharpton want business to hire non qualified people. These two race pimps will shake down the businesses for $$$$.
"are all too accustomed to having "the prize" and opportunity dangled in front of them, and then snatched away once someone has got what they wanted from that black person"
what in god's name are you babbling about? I almost find that offensive, like there is some fat white man with a tux, cigar, and a monocle saying dance for me and you can have some cornbread, oops too late!
The prize is the same for everyone here, get smart, work hard and you will do just fine, and if anything we as Americans bend over backwards to give it to "minorities" aka black people with numerous programs, if they take advantage of it great, if not tough IMO
.... demographics and white collar job demographics ....
You racist.
Abe Lincoln killed 700,000 white Americans to force Bantu equality ... 80-IQ = 110-IQ ohmeohmy! Well lib.com pad're you got that coder/engineer equality shoved up yo stupid white *zzwhole. Bantu build a computing system ... shite the stone-chippers never pulled themselves out of the Neolith --- anywhere --- ever --- just too damned stupid. Muzzi-wog and Dutch slavers taught mechanics to a few .... that your idea of culture?
... hehehe ... you po' po' fyuck pray you are living in NewZeland.
Then live in a dystopic, jujuladen vermin infested shitewhole. Wait till they get to the affirmative-action medical doctors
Experience has shown that there exists an hierarchy of protected classes:
1. Females espousing religions hostile to Western values
2. Males espousing religions hostile to Western values
3. Lesbians
4. Gays
5. African American female
6. African American male
7. Hispanic female
8. Hispanic male
9. Asian female
10. Asian male
11. Jewish female
12. Jewish male
13. Ethnic white female
14. Ethnic white male
15. Non-ethnic white female
16. Non-ethnic white male
17. White female
18 White male
19. Christian/Messianic Jew/Hebrew Christian/Talmidei Yeshua
Religion is the essence of culture and culture is the dress of religion.
Culture is defined as "the attempt to find a coherent set of answers to the existential questions that confront human beings in the passages in their lives".
Only in the West is identity modular. One can change religions without invalidating an individual's claim to belong to a certain group (within limits). However, in the East, identity is considered a gestalt. Even the slightest alteration of any point no matter how minor it may appear renders that individual's claim to belong to a certain group invalid. This has real life consequences, especially in Israel. When a minority individual achieves beyond an unspoken threshold, they are reassigned as "white" for many purposes thus becoming "quasi-protected". Their membership in a protected class are only for matters negative (hate crimes) and not for matters positive (reservations, set-asides, affirmative action, positive discrimination, etc.).
While I'm happy to push companies to prefer local talent over H-1Bs, there is no civil rights issue in high tech. Tech companies are happy to hire any candidate with the skills appropriate for the job. The public education system is certainly failing our youth and junior colleges need to expand and modernize tech programs, those are places to focus on expanding access not just for minorities, but for everyone. Considering the bad PR they get if diversity percentages are a little off, believe me companies are not avoiding minority hires. As per the wisdom of SouthPark, "Jesse Jackson is not the emperor of black people" - Token Black
Jackson and Sharpton both have livelihoods that depend on race issues. Both are known for race baiting, and have made careers doing just that. This is why even when no racial issues exist, they fabricate information to make them exist. These are not the only two that manipulate discrimination issues for cash. We saw recently that the NAACP will give bigots a lifetime achievement award, if the bigot gives enough money to the NAACP.
That statement should not imply that real issues of discrimination do not exist, but rather that real issues of discrimination are diminished because of these types of people.
It's not a shakedown for money, because that would only let you cash a check once. He wants constant racial issues, and instigates them when ever possible.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
He could start by calling on Congress to get the corrupt H1-B Visa program cancelled. Thats the government program whereby companies import foreign citizens to do I.T. work for half or less than the current salary. It would also help everyone of every race.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/29/Real-Unemployment-Rate-Is-at-Least-18-Percent
Friday, the Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 235,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.1 percent, but that hardly tells the story.
The jobless rate may be down from its recession peak of 10 percent, but much of this results from adults, discouraged by the lack of decent job openings, having quit altogether. They are neither employed nor looking for work.
Only about half of the drop in the adult participation rate may be attributed to the Baby Boom generation reaching retirement age. Lacking adequate resources to retire, a larger percentage of adults over 65 are working than before the recession.
Many Americans who would like full time jobs are stuck in part-time positions, because businesses can hire desirable part-time workers to supplement a core of permanent, full-time employees, but at lower wages. And Obamacare’s employer health insurance mandates will not apply to workers on the job less than 30 hours a week.
Since 2000, Congress has enhanced the earned income tax credit and expanded programs that provide direct benefits to low-income workers, including food stamps, Medicaid, Obamacare, and rent and mortgage assistance.
Virtually all phase as family incomes rise, either by securing higher hourly pay or working more hours, and impose an effective marginal tax rate as high as 50 percent. Consequently, these programs discourage work and skills acquisition and encourage single parents and one partner in two adult households not to work. Often, these motivate single people to work only part-time.
Undocumented immigrants face more difficulties accessing these programs, and lax immigration enforcement permits them to openly take jobs that government benefits discourage low-income Americans from accepting.
Employers can, intentionally or unintentionally, abuse the H-1B visa program, which permit businesses to employ foreign workers when qualified Americans are unavailable. Americans may be overlooked because they demand higher wages or are not networked with immigrants that are already employed in technical and managerial positions.
The economy has created only about 6 million new jobs during the Bush-Obama years, whereas the comparable figure during the Reagan-Clinton period was about 40 million. A recent study by the Center for Immigration Studies indicates that virtually all the new jobs created since 2000 went to immigrants, whereas none were created for native-born Americans.
Adding in discouraged adults who say they would begin looking for work if conditions were better, those working part-time but say they want full time work, and the effects of immigration, the unemployment rate becomes about 15 percent—and that is a lower bound estimate.
Many young people are being duped both by unscrupulous for profit, post-secondary institutions—as well as accredited colleges and universities with low admission standards—to enroll in useless programs. They would likely be in the labor force now but for easy access to federally sponsored loans and will end up heavily in debt.
Adding in these students, the real unemployment rate among U.S. citizens and permanent residents is at least 18 percent.
Since 2000, GDP growth has averaged 1.7 per year, whereas during the Reagan-Clinton years, it was 3.4 percent. The reluctance of both Presidents Bush and Obama to confront Chinese protectionism and currency manipulation and open up offshore oil for development have created a huge trade deficit that sends consumer demand, growth, and jobs abroad.
New business regulations, more burdensome than are necessary to accomplish legitimate consumer protection and environmental objectives, exacerbate these problems.
All of this suppresses wages except for the most skilled and talented workers.
No surprise, average family income, adjusted for inflation has fallen from about $55,600 in 2007 to $51,000 even as the gap between families at the bottom and top widens.
you know. Those various black societies are very inclusive and generally run by very nice people.
Black people in America have lived with 200 years of institutionalized racism. I've got a black trucker friend who doesn't do runs through the South to this day. So I can't really begrudge them their societies...
On the other hand I'd say Whites are tremendous victims of racism: their own. The right wing in this country has convinced the white man that "Welfare Queens" (read: Black people) are a bigger problem then declining wages and competing with slave labor. The think tanks aren't even very secretive about it. Google "Southern Strategy".
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As a doctor and someone who had to heal with equal opportunity in college, medschool, post grad etc, all I can say now is bahahahhaahhabahahs
Yar, I think he also misunderstands the work involved as well
It is not that Jesse Jackson misunderstands the work involved
It is that Jesse Jackson has never had to *** WORK *** even for one single day of his fucking pathetic life as the only thing he does is giving racist speeches, shaking down corporations / municipals / college and universities to recruit / hire / admit African Americans no matter if they are qualified, or not
Sounds like the guys I hired in Atlanta and Boca. My department leadership was skewed African American and female compared to the general IT work force (and to the people they were leading). Nobody in our department got hired or promoted due to race, gender or any other silly criteria. Just putting the best people we could get into the best position to help us succeed.
I doubt very many IT companies are any different. Finding top minds is difficult, and IT doesn't work without top minds. It is nothing like Sales or even regular business management. Racism just doesn't work in the IT field.
LOL the slashdot community are such trolls when they want to be. If there was no racism in the industry people wouldn't be so touchy about it. If I walked up to you and said "You are a frog, ribbit ribbit, pay me." you wouldn't get angry, you would probably question my mental health and walk away. So if there isn't a problem here then why not disclose the numbers and reveal Jesse Jackson as a fraud? Oh wait, the industry is perpetuated by racist institutions so that will be fought tooth and nail. And the communities most engrossed in the industry perpetuate this fallacy that they are superior in some way because they provide a vital service. Well, there were communities in the north during the early 1800's who never wanted to end slavery because that would mean competition for factory jobs from newly freed slaves. I have a suspicion that we are once again faced with racism driven by labor concerns.
The prize is the same for everyone here, get smart, work hard and you will do just fine, and if anything we as Americans bend over backwards to give it to "minorities" aka black people with numerous programs, if they take advantage of it great, if not tough IMO
Correction sir, what the hell are YOU talking about? Those programs are barely designed to level the playing field that is the byproduct of generations of gerrymandering and gentrification of black neighborhoods which disenfranchise them on the education level. Not even the internet has been able to level the education gap because service providers underserve minority neighborhoods.
IT is and should be meritocracy, have the ability have the job, screw this entitlement mentality.
Jesse is a filthy, greasy, lazy, shiftless, no-account thug...
Joe Biden is a square shooter. Joe Biden for 2016
Tech Diversity Is Next Civil Rights Step
Not, it is not. Instead of scrutinizing tech companies why they have low % of African American and Hispanic engineers (I'm a Hispanic engineer btw), they should scrutinize those communities (my community included) as of why they produce fewer %s of engineers compared to non-Hispanic Whites (or worse, against Asian/Asian American communities.)
This is not a case of tech companies discriminating against X or Y ethnic group. It is about our communities doing a piss-poor job at ensuring our kids a proper education and get proper role models.
Yes, Hispanic and African American communities have suffered systematic discrimination in the past (specially African Americans). But we past that point a long time ago, and the balance has been pointing towards community responsibility for quite some time.
Jeese Jackson is an asshole and an attention whore. He is stirring up this shit, race baiting the tech industry as a means to stay relevant. Sadly, there will be enough dumb masses that follow him.
Would someone shut that race-bating, hypocritical piece of shit up already?
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Hey I agree with you except one aspect. Stop thinking that what you see on the news, movies and hear on those radio talk shows depict the black American population as a whole. There are more honest, hard working blacks that make up America than you're willing to open your eyes to see.
JJ is a RACE PIMP.
Any questions?
Mr. Jackson apparently has run out of other things to crab about, so he is going to start crabbing about the lack of diversity in high-tech. U.S. affirmative action has been around for over 50 years and during that time there has been enormous opportunity for blacks and other minorities to get an edge on education, often at the disadvantage of more qualified whites, and improve their ability to get better paying jobs whether it is in high-tech or elsewhere. By and large, for whatever the reasons, with relatively rare exceptions, the black/non-white community, in general, has failed to avail themselves of this. To claim racial discrimination at this point is ludicrous.
As long as this also have a simultaneous effort to promote opportunity for whites in the NBA, then I'm all for it.
Also, I like the cut of his anti-H1B jib. But as long as we're identifying areas where the white community is under served as well. I'd recommend starting with the NBA.
It's not a lack of talent, it's a lack of opportunity.
http://www.accountkiller.com/en/delete-slashdot-account Stop visiting Slashdot.
Truth is, 90% of black people in the US are primitive brutes with zero civility and no dignity whatsoever. 10% are just like everyone else. Everyone else meaning every single other race and creed you can imagine who manages to act like human beings most of the time.
For those other races, the rest of us, about 10% are garbage and 90% are good. Just my approximation living about 3 blocks from some of the worst ghettos in the United States for the past 5 years. I've also lived in the south, and they're a little more 'reserved' there for a while- but still complete scumbags. Lying, cheating, good for nothings breathing oxygen that would be better saved for the rest of the world.
This comment won't be popular with the crusading white knight types (which in the nerd community, they are aplenty). But it is true nonetheless.
There's good reasons why the KKK existed in this country. It wasn't completely mindless. Though I don't support violence at all, outside of self defense.
Once you live around them in large numbers, it's quite the wakeup call.
It's not racism if its reality.
Clearly African Americans are under-represented in Silicon Valley. That's obvious. So are women. Some minorities, particularly South Asian are over represented. Silicon Valley isn't any more racist than other regions/sectors... perhaps less so given the influence of minorities from high power engineering and science programs. The CEO of Microsoft is from India. He no doubt faced similar racism, but had access to education and opportunity before he entered tech,
The issue Jackson should be addressing is inner city education and opportunity. Inner city residents in general get lousy public education... especially minorities. Job opportunities are scarce, which gives any kid growing up a greater icentive to try other avenues. And some do. That is the essential problem. To a great extent Silicon Valley cannot fix that problem. Yet Jackson's constituents could go for the root issue... poor education and overall opportunity.
Jackson's efforts should be aimed at making himself obsolete by addressing core issues versus making himself relevant by addressing tangential issues.
America is stronger without racism... much stronger. So is Silicon Valley. But at the core are stereotypes perpetuated by a failed system, failed opportunities, not by pigment fear. Let's turn inner cities into equal opportunity and access zones. That will be great for our country and foe all of the kids being kept away from teh American Dream.
oh and the poor non minority neighborhoods are not also under-served? I just find it interesting that there are 1 million and 1 programs to serve area's like inner city minorities as if there aint a poor white kid living in the ghetto as well
funny I attended a redneck heavy rural Texas branch school of one of the 2 big university systems in Texas and we had a decent amount of minority students not quite mirroring the US population but in my time there it had gone from too few black students for them to simply hang with all black friends basic human social needs forced them to befriend the others. BY graduation enough had been recruited by my major advisor who was the NAACP president for my campus that they didnt have to meld as much and they were maintaining hood style slang rather than adopting more mainstream white manners of speaking.
I was a business degree major with many friends getting computer degrees and as a self taught coder I spent alot of time with them in the schools computer labs. NO black students were opting to major in computers and only a few Hispanics were doing so
so Jesse just how many geeks of color do you know personally?
I'm not at all surprised that these companies are
totally racist in their non hiring of "non White" staff,
as I have pointed out before, when Women are spoken of in such matters,
it is White women who have got and get the job,
the statistics which go with this article on USA Today,
are a damming indictment of ongoing White American and White world racism.
What is more repugnant about this case is that the companies named
are the ones who in particular young people have faith in,
for being trendy, hip, modern and non racist.
The racial makedown of the staff goes someway in explaining why social media sites have become such a haven for some of the most vile and disgusting racists on our planet.
Were more Black and people of color involved in these companies, and
I don't just mean in the catering and cleaning department,
but throughout the staff and hierarchy,
then groups such as "Stormfront", "No White GeNocide" and
a host of other nazi minded detritus,
would not find a safe place
from where they can spread their poison and
recruit for their racial war machinations.
Stormfront alone is implicated in over 100 murders.
I have campaigned against the Boeremag race terrorists,
who tried to bomb Nelson Mandela, start a race war then
drive all "non Whites" out of the country and
set up a Whites only state in Africa.
Facebook has banned me from their site for
campaigning for them to take down
the Boeremag terrorist support page.
Twitter followed suit and not only banned me, but
insist on finding racists and nazis for me to "follow".
America is at about 15% African American,
that should be reflected as a minimum,
not just in the tech companies, but
across the board and the other so called "minorities"
should be represented at least by their percentages too.
If these companies want to act in a racial way,
let them move to where they have only their own race and
deprive America of the revenue and
the shame which they are helping to maintain.
This is a Civil and Human Rights Issue,
which all races should band together and fight.
Please sign the petition against the Boeremag support page on Facebook
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/580/770/040/facebook-stop-hosting-terrorists/
read more on the blog
http://natturner1.wordpress.com/
A scoop of Twitter suggestions to "follow" http://sco.lt/7PPFJJ
Gosgog:
Martin Luther King is dead! He was & still is the "CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER"!! Jesse Jackson is a nothing, who has self attached himself to the myth that he is a leader. He isn't a leader of anything at all. Unfortunately today's Press has fallen for his line of Bullshit, and as a result he has a few idiot supporters who finance him. What has he ever actually accomplished other than the ability to get Cash in his pocket & press recognition...NOTHING!
I worked in a number of engineering departments. in the 40m years i was employed in silicon valley. In those 40 yrs I can only remember 2 black individuals that could cut the mustard and be a participating member of any engineering dept. I saw many blacks fail to make the grade, They bull shitted there way into being hired and of course failed very shortly after .....
i remember one dude from Panama (Wes Jones) that was the head of a Mfg Engineering dept. This dude really knew his shit. When he came to me with a problem I knew he had throughly diagnosed it and it was problem..... He save my ass a number of times....
Unfortunately there were not many , which is sad...... With proper training and experience I'm sure there would be more.....
They have a very large percentage of minorities. I don't work there, but have consulted there. I can't cite numbers. Anyone from Verizon who can verify?
Peers discourage each other from studying because it's "acting white." When in fact it is "acting middle class," because this same kind of discouragement occurs among lower class whites as well.
"Acting middle class" is merely another way of describing yourself as a servant. They have correctly identified that we are all servants and that the best that they can hope for is to be marginally better off than some others. This is a total ripoff and they know it. There is an ENORMOUS amount of wealth out there and 90% or more of us will never get to touch even a small amount of it. Why work so hard for so little? Fuck it, be a gangsta and live free (until you go to prison).
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen