JACKSON - renews push for diversity in tech world

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April 13, 2001

Jesse Jackson Renews Push For Diversity in Tech World

Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson renewed his push for increased diversity in the high-technology world Thursday, telling a conference sponsored by his organization (www.rainbowpush.org ) that minorities and women still rarely are seen in Silicon Valley boardrooms.

Mr. Jackson said that among the 356 directors at the 44 high-tech companies his Rainbow/PUSH organization owns stock in, only six are black, three are Hispanic, 19 are Asian and 35 are women.

"The American dream can only work when everybody is included," Mr. Jackson told about 200 people in a hotel ballroom. "We who have been locked out traditionally represent market, money, talent and growth."

Rainbow/PUSH's three-day "Digital Connections" conference on high-tech diversity is attracting some of the area's biggest companies.

During a lunch address, Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive John Chambers said the Internet is creating a new industrial revolution, and only education and connectivity will ensure everyone will see the benefits.

Every home in the U.S. should have high-speed Internet access, said the CEO of the networking-gear manufacturer. At the same time, the education system must be improved, he added.

"If I build a six-lane highway to your home and then give you just a bicycle to ride on, you are not going to receive the benefits," Mr. Chambers said.

In recent years, Mr. Jackson has made similar pushes to make corporate America more racially diverse, including trying to open up investment opportunities to women and minorities, and creating jobs in poor inner-city areas. In 1999, in a push for greater diversity on Wall Street, he tried to get more minority-owned firms to be included as underwriters of Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s initial public offering.

That same year, he criticized Coca-Cola Co. for failing to reflect the diversity of its consumers among top levels of management and on its board, and urged the soft-drink company to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit quickly. The company agreed to a $192.5 million settlement that also required the beverage giant to submit its employment practices to outside scrutiny.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001

Answers

This sounds like JJ is setting up the software giants for a "settlement" like he has gotten out of a number of companies. If he would look at the truth, blacks seldom go into computer sciences - sorry but they have the same choices the rest of us do. I happen to be a female in the computer world and there are few of us as well. Women don't make it to the top in the computer world because they want a life outside of the computer and refuse to live and breathe computers 24/7. That is the reason that I gave up climbing the corporate ladder - I have a life away from work and got sick of working 80-100 hour weeks - now I work 60 hour weeks and in the next few months even less.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001

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