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Tag: Race

  • Legislation Would Ban Federal Law Enforcement From Using Facial Recognition

    Legislation Would Ban Federal Law Enforcement From Using Facial Recognition

    Senators Ed Markey and Jeff Merkley have introduced legislation that would ban federal law enforcement agencies from using facial recognition.

    In the wake of several high-profile incidents that have helped spark protests and a renewed focus on racial equality, facial recognition has come under heavy fire. While having some usefulness, facial recognition struggles with bias issues, especially related to race, ethnicity and sex. This doesn’t even begin to address the privacy issues the technology raises. Clearview AI is one company that has increasingly been in the news for blatant abuses of privacy through the use of facial recognition.

    The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act, would address these concerns by prohibiting federal law enforcement agencies from using facial recognition tech. In addition, any local or state agencies seeking federal funding would be required to take similar measures.

    “Facial recognition technology doesn’t just pose a grave threat to our privacy, it physically endangers Black Americans and other minority populations in our country,” said Senator Markey. “As we work to dismantle the systematic racism that permeates every part of our society, we can’t ignore the harms that these technologies present. I’ve spent years pushing back against the proliferation of facial recognition surveillance systems because the implications for our civil liberties are chilling and the disproportionate burden on communities of color is unacceptable. In this moment, the only responsible thing to do is to prohibit government and law enforcement from using these surveillance mechanisms. I thank Representatives Jayapal and Pressley and Senator Merkley for working with me on this critical legislation.”

    It’s unknown whether the bill will be able to gain enough support to pass. Should it succeed, however, it could fundamentally alter the privacy debate and have a profound impact on equality.

  • Stacey Dash Says There Should Be No BET, Black History Month

    In discussing the controversy over the lack of diversity among this year’s Oscar nominees, actress-turned-conservative commentator Stacey Dash made a rather controversial statement.

    In the spirit of integration, Dash suggested that we get rid of black-focused TV channels like BET as well as Black History Month.

    “We have to make up our minds. Either we want to have segregation or integration, and if we don’t want segregation, then we have to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the Image Awards, where you’re only awarded if you’re black,” she said. “If it were the other way around, we’d be up in arms. It’s a double standard.”

    When Fox host Steve Doocy pushed her to elaborate on whether or not there should be a BET, Dash doubled down, saying,

    “No, I don’t think so. No. Just like there shouldn’t be a Black History Month. You know? We’re Americans. Period. That’s it.”

    There shouldn’t be a black history month. We’re Americans, period.”

    It might make people, but we have to decide: do we want to segregate ourselves out of society?

    Posted by Stacey Dash on Wednesday, January 20, 2016

    On her blog on Patheos, Dash points out that she is only saying what Morgan Freeman once said.

    At least on that point, she’s correct:

    The internet reaction to Dash’s comments has been massive.

  • Twitter Sets Public Diversity Goals – 35% Women in the Workforce by Next Year

    Twitter Sets Public Diversity Goals – 35% Women in the Workforce by Next Year

    A couple of months ago, very white and very male company Twitter made a vague promise to build “a representative workforce, and is dedicated to ensuring fairness in all people decisions, including hiring, promoting, and paying.”

    Now, it’s making more specific promises.

    Twitter has set diversity goals, which it hopes to achieve by next year. These include a workforce that is 35% women overall, 16% women in tech roles, 25% women in leadership roles, and 11% underrepresented minorities (going by Twitter’s most-recent diversity reports, this likely means black and hispanic).

    Twitter’s last diversity figures showed that the company is 70% male overall – 90% male in tech roles and 79% male in leadership roles.

    “We considered simply setting company-wide hiring goals, but we don’t want to stop at that. If our aim is to build a company we can really be proud of — one that’s more inclusive and diverse — we need to make sure it’s a great place for both new and current employees to work and to grow. That’s why these new goals focus on increasing the overall representation of women and underrepresented minorities throughout the whole company,” says Twitter.

    Twitter outlines a handful of ways it plans to achieve these goals, like actively recruiting at historically black colleges and “refining our recruiting and hiring practices to attract more diverse candidates … ensure our job descriptions appeal to a broad range of applicants, increasing the diversity of interview panels, and posting openings where more underrepresented candidates will see them.”

    You can check it out here.

    “Today we’ve outlined what we believe progress should look like. We expect to come back to you next year and show we’ve delivered, and to be held accountable to it!” says the company.

    Ok. We will.

  • Apple Reveals Modest Improvement in Employee Diversity

    Apple Reveals Modest Improvement in Employee Diversity

    Last year, when Apple released its first ever diversity report, the company revealed that its workforce was 70 percent male and 55 percent white. Of course, this didn’t set Apple apart from any other major tech company – everyone in Silicon Valley has been struggling with diversity.

    Tim Cook said he was not happy with that.

    “Let me say up front: As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page. They’re not new to us, and we’ve been working hard for quite some time to improve them. We are making progress, and we’re committed to being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing our products,” he said in August of 2014.

    So, how have they done over the past year?

    As with Facebook’s latest report on its progress, the feeling is meh.

    As of August of 2015, Apple is 69 percent male and 54 percent white.

    The silver lining, according to Apple, is that it’s hired “more diverse candidates than in any other year to date.” This includes, in the new hires, 35 percent women, 19 percent Asian, 13 percent Hispanic, and 11 percent Black.

    “We are proud of the progress we’ve made, and our commitment to diversity is unwavering. But we know there is a lot more work to be done,” says Tim Cook.

    “Some people will read this page and see our progress. Others will recognize how much farther we have to go. We see both. And more important than these statistics, we see tens of thousands of Apple employees all over the world, speaking dozens of languages, working together. We celebrate their differences and the many benefits we and our customers enjoy as a result.”

    In March, Apple donated $50 million to further racial and gender diversity.

    “Diversity is critical to innovation and it is essential to Apple’s future. We aspire to do more than just make our company as diverse as the talent available to hire. We must address the broad underlying challenges, offer new opportunities, and create a future generation of employees as diverse as the world around us. We also aspire to make a difference beyond Apple,” says Cook.

    Image via Apple

  • Facebook, a Year Later, Is a Little Less White, Male (a Little)

    Over the past year, the gender and ethnic makeup of Facebook’s workforce didn’t really change.

    As of today, Facebook’s employees are 55% white and 68% male. A year ago, when Facebook reported its first diversity data, those numbers were 57% and 69%, respectively.

    So, progress. A little bit.

    “While we have achieved positive movement over the last year, it’s clear to all of us that we still aren’t where we want to be. There’s more work to do. We remain deeply committed to building a workplace that reflects a broad range of experience, thought, geography, age, background, gender, sexual orientation, language, culture and many other characteristics. It’s a big task, one that will take time to achieve, but our whole company continues to embrace this challenge,” says Maxine Williams, Facebook’s global director of diversity.

    In terms of Facebook’s senior leadership, things are pretty stagnant. A year ago the top-level was 77% male and 74% white. This year it’s 77% and 73%, respectively.

    Apart from just reporting 2015’s diversity figures, Facebook has outlined some moves it’s making to address the issue and build upon the “positive but modest change.”

    Screen Shot 2015-06-25 at 1.45.23 PM

    First, Facebook officially confirmed that it has implemented a version of the NFL’s “Rooney Rule”, requiring the “underrepresented” be considered for all open positions:

    Piloting a diverse slate approach in some parts of our business in the US, which means that we aspire to present hiring managers within the pilot organizations with at least one qualified candidate who is a member of an underrepresented group to fill any open role. The opportunity to compete is often the biggest hurdle for underrepresented people to overcome. This approach, similar to the Rooney Rule in the National Football League (NFL) in the US, encourages recruiters to look longer, harder and smarter for more diversity in the talent pool and ensures that hiring managers are exposed to a range of different candidates during the interview process.

    Facebook also discussed its Facebook University program for picking early college kids and giving them opportunities to learn valuable skills:

    We are also testing a number of efforts that provide the opportunity for those early in their college careers to learn both the soft and the hard skills it takes to succeed at Facebook. We’ve increased by a factor of four the number of freshman year paid training opportunities we offer. Our Facebook University training program (FBU) invites college freshmen, generally from underrepresented groups who demonstrate exceptional talent and interest in Computer Science, to spend most of their summer working on teams with Facebook mentors, learning the skills we are looking for at the company. FBU for Business takes the same approach for those interested in the non-engineering career tracks.

    At the upper level, Facebook says it has reworked its Managing Bias course to help those in charge “surface biases that people might not even realize they have, and gives people the tools to identify and interrupt biased behavior as it occurs.”

    Summer is diversity figures season, as many tech companies will be reporting their workforce makeup in the coming weeks. Last week, Twitter made a solid, albeit vague promise to make sure its workforce is more diverse.

  • Amazon Bans Confederate Flag Merchandise

    Amazon has joined other retailers in banning the sale of merchandise sporting the Confederate flag.

    Following the racially-motivated slaying of nine people in Charleston, South Carolina, calls across the country to “take down the flag” have intensified. Earlier this week, Walmart and Sears announced they would be removing confederate flag merchandise from their stores, and soon after online marketplaces eBay and Etsy made the same decision.

    Amazon has always withheld the right to remove products it deems offensive, including “products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views,” according to its banned products page.

    Amazon has yet to make a public statement on the ban, but an eBay spokesperson said its decision was based on the belief that the flag is a symbol of divisiveness and racism.

    “We have decided to prohibit Confederate flags, and many items containing this image, because we believe it has become a contemporary symbol of divisiveness and racism,” eBay spokesperson Johnna Hoff said in a statement. “This decision is consistent with our long-standing policy that prohibits items that promote or glorify hatred, violence and racial intolerance.”

    As of now, Amazon returns tens of thousands of products for a “confederate flag” search.

    This story is developing…

    Image via fauxto_digit, Flickr Creative Commons

  • Adam Sandler Movies Are Ridiculous, Confirms Netflix

    Adam Sandler Movies Are Ridiculous, Confirms Netflix

    According to Netflix, nobody should be surprised when an Adam Sandler movies turns out to be a bit ridiculous.

    According to reports, nearly a dozen Native American actors walked off the set of Sandler’s new movie, The Ridiculous Six, in protest of some less-than-sensitive cultural jokes and stereotypes present in the script. According to the Indian Country Today Media Network, “the examples of disrespect included Native women’s names such as Beaver’s Breath and No Bra, an actress portraying an Apache woman squatting and urinating while smoking a peace pipe, and feathers inappropriately positioned on a teepee.”

    The Ridiculous Six, a supposed parody of The Magnificent Seven, is the first of four original films Adam Sandler will make for Netflix. The two parties struck a deal back in October of 2014.

    In an statement, Netflix basically said that the whole point of the movie is to be ridiculous – I mean, it says so in the title.

    “The movie has ridiculous in the title for a reason: because it is ridiculous,” said a spokesperson in a statement. “It is a broad satire of Western movies and the stereotypes they popularized, featuring a diverse cast that is not only part of – but in on – the joke.”

    The film boasts an impressive cast – Blake Shelton, Whitney Cummings, Steve Buscemi, Rob Schneider, Dan Aykroyd, Will Forte, Nick Swardson, Terry Crews, Jon Lovitz, Taylor Lautner, Nick Nolte, Luke Wilson, Steve Zahn, Danny Trejo, Chris Parnell, Lavell Crawford, and Vanilla Ice.

    Filming was unimpeded by the walk-off, according to reports.

    “When these fine people came to me with an offer to make four movies for them, I immediately said yes for one reason and one reason only…. Netflix rhymes with Wet Chicks,”” said Sandler when the four-picture deal was announced.

    Image via Angela George, Wikimedia Commons

  • Apple Adds New Diverse Emoji with iOS Update

    Apple Adds New Diverse Emoji with iOS Update

    iOS 8.3 is here, and while it comes with a handful of updates, the most exciting is new emoji. Duh.

    When the beta of the new OS X hit developers hands back in February, we were given a preview at all the new, racially diverse emoji coming to your Apple devices. Now, with today’s release of OX X Yosemite 10.10.3 and iOS 8.3, the new characters are ready for action.

    Your redesigned emoji keyboard features over 300 new characters.

    Among the other fixes shipping with iOS 8.3 include the ability to filter out iMessages not sent by your contacts, additional language support for Siri, some swipe to unlock glitches, and many, many more. In fact, it’s a giant changelog.

    But I know you’re just concerned with the new emoji. It’s ok, you can admit it.

  • Facebook Sued over Alleged Sex, Race Discrimination and Harassment

    A former Facebook employee is suing the company, claiming she was discriminated against based on her sex, ethnicity, and country or origin – an subsequently fired without just cause.

    Chia Hong has filed suit against Facebook, a staffer named Anil Wilson and 50 other John Doe Facebook employees for discrimination, harassment, and undue retaliation. Hong says she was hired in June of 2010, promoted in 2012, received nothing but positive performance feedback throughout, and was eventually terminated in October of 2013.

    All the while, she was being routinely discriminated against and harassed, she says.

    “The discrimination included, but was not limited to, plaintiff being belittled at work and asked why she did not just stay home and take care of her children, being admonished when she exercised her right under company policy to take time off the visit her child at school; being ordered to organize parties and serve drinks to male colleagues, which was not a part of her job description and not something that was requested of males with whom she worked; and being replaced by a less qualified, less experienced male,” says the lawsuit.

    “The harassment included, but was not limited to, Anil Wilson regularly ignoring or belittling plaintiff’s professional opinions and input at group meetings in which she was the only woman or one of very few … telling plaintiff he had heard she was an ‘order-taker’ by which he meant that she did not exercise independent discretion in the execution of her job duties,” it continues.

    Hong also claims racial discrimination, saying,

    “The discrimination included, but was not limited to, plaintiff’ having her professional opinions belittled or ignored at group meeting in which she was one of the only employees of Chinese descent; plaintiff being told that she was not integrated into the team because she looks different and talk differently than other team members, and plaintiff being replaced by a less qualified, less experienced Indian male.

    There are 11 specific causes of action in the lawsuit. Hong says that she was fired when she brought up the alleged harassment.

    She’s looking to recoup lost wages, earnings, retirement benefits, as well as a monetary judgement for pain and anguish and emotional distress – plus punitive damages.

    Chia Hong vs. Facebook by Aileen Martinez

    Facebook provided a statement to TechCrunch, disputing the allegations.

    “We work extremely hard on issues related to diversity, gender and equality, and we believe we’ve made progress. In this case we have substantive disagreements on the facts, and we believe the record shows the employee was treated fairly,” said the company.

  • Apple Emoji Will Soon Be Much More Diverse

    Apple’s emoji options are about to get much more diverse.

    The company has given developers a new beta of OS X, and inside contains a bunch of new, racially diverse emoji characters.

    In the new build, many of the human emoji now allow users to tap and hold to see options for different skin tones, as such:

    The various skin tones are also available on emojis featuring hands and other body parts.

    Apart from the new human emoji, Apple is adding new family emoji to include more diverse compositions – as well as new country flags.

    There’s also going to be an emoji for the Apple Watch, because of course there is.

    Emoji is controlled by the Unicode Consortium, and late last year the organization decided to add more diversity to the standard emoji set. This is something people had been demanding for some time:

    Most will say this is well overdue. They’re not wrong.

  • Charles Barkley Calls For Rational Race Discussion In America

    Former NBA star Charles Barkley is backing up the grand jury decision to not indict the white police officer who was involved in the shooting of 19-year-old teenager, Michael Brown last August. The outspoken basketball player-turned-commentator called the idea of white cops profiling black people “ridiculous,” in his recent interview with CNN.

    Barkley called looters in the Ferguson riots “scumbags.” He also expressed his frustration when educated black people are dubbed as “acting white.” “The real black people, they’re not out there looting,” he added.

    Instead of talking about race when something tragic happens, Barkley encouraged the public to favor a rational dialogue about race in America rather than just taking on what is reported in the media. The 51-year-old sports analyst pointed out how communities rely on cops in cleaning up the neighborhood only to cry racial profiling when the police ends up doing their job.

    “We have to look at ourselves in the mirror,” Barkley said. “We as black people, we have a lot of crooks. There is a reason that they racially profile us in the way they do. Sometimes it is wrong, and sometimes it is right.”

    Barkley applauded those who choose to peacefully protest for Michael Brown. He cited examples like the NFL players who protested before a recent game by doing the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture last Sunday. “Anybody who walks out peacefully, who protests peacefully, that’s what this country was built on,” Barkley noted. “But to be burning peoples’ property, burning police cars, looting peoples’ stores, that is 100 percent ridiculous.”

    In the tell-all interviews that are quickly making rounds in social media, Barkley also talked about Chris Rock’s comment about salary disparities and how Obama should enact a harsher measure to stop the spread of terrorist group, ISIS. “We need to put some bodies on the ground and shoot them dead.”

  • Type 2 Diabetes, Obesity Linked to Fast-Food Proximity, Shows Study

    It should come as no surprise that unhealthy foods such as those commonly served at fast-food restaurants are related to medical problems such as obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. A new study has gone even further, however, finding that the number of fast-food restaurants in a community can be seen as a predictor of such symptoms.

    The study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, found that an individual’s proximity to fast-food restaurants could be linked to their risk of type-2 diabetes and obesity. More specifically the study’s authors found that for every two additional fast-food restaurants in a neighborhood, that neighborhood could expect one additional person with diabetes.

    “This work has several notable strengths; namely, it is the first study, to our knowledge, to look at the association between the number of neighbourhood fast-food outlets and type 2 diabetes in a multi-ethnic population,” said Patrice Carter, a co-author of the study and a research associate at the University of Leicester. “Although it is not possible to infer causal effect, our study found that plausible causal mechanisms exist.”

    Another disturbing trend seen in the study’s data is that poorer, non-white communities were more likely to have a greater number of fast-food restaurants. People of non-white ethnicity were found to have more than twice the number of fast-food restaurants in their neighborhood compared to white Europeans.

    “We found a much higher number of fast-food outlets in more deprived areas where a higher number of black and minority ethnic populations resided,” said Dr. Kamlesh Khunti, a co-author of the study and a professor of primary care diabetes & vascular medicine at the University of Leicester. “This in turn was associated with higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes. The results are quite alarming and have major implications for public health interventions to limit the number of fast-food outlets in more deprived areas.”

    Khunti and his colleagues believe that this study could have a significant impact on future health policy, diabetes prevention, and community zoning laws. In the U.K. data from the study, which looked at over 10,000 people, has already been used to inform NHS Health Checks Programme recommendations.

  • Marijuana Legalization: DC Plays the Race Card

    There are lots of reasons that states and cities have come up with to legalize marijuana, either for medical use or recreational. The medical side of things is pretty well-established. Even if you get the strong feeling that the idea of “medical marijuana” is overused, there is little denying anymore that it certainly does some people a whole lot of good.

    As far as recreational use, that often comes down to the simple fact that this is America, and in America we don’t tell our citizens that they can’t do something without a damn good reason. And the “reasons” for denying adults the right to smoke, eat, or otherwise consume marijuana are evaporating fast.

    Localities that have legalized marijuana in one form or another are boasting a drop in traffic fatalities, an increase in tax revenues, fewer prescription painkiller deaths, and no increase in underage use — all the opposite of what opponents claimed would happen.

    And now we have another popular argument for decriminalization or legalization being dusted off and brought to bear in the District of Columbia. That is the issue of race.

    Specifically, the idea is that black people are disproportionately prosecuted for the victimless “crime” of marijuana possession compared to the prosecution rates of white people. Some say that this is because black people are unfairly arrested more often than their marijuana-carrying white neighbors. Others say that this is simply because more black people use marijuana than white people.

    But the pro-pot line of reasoning in D.C. shortcuts both those arguments with a simple solution: legalize it.

    If the folks in D.C. pursue this line of logic, and do manage to legalize marijuana in some way, it could have far-reaching effects.

    “I think D.C. is going to probably set off a chain of events in which communities of color generally and cities in particular take on the issue of legalization as a racial justice, social justice issue in a much stronger way than they have so far,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance.

    A successful legalization campaign in D.C., especially one that relies heavily on the argument of racial and social justice, could give other states yet another weapon to use in the legalization fight.

  • Raven Symone Is Proud To Be American, So Don’t Call Her AFRICAN-American. Or Gay.

    Oprah Winfrey knew it was going down the minute Raven Symoné started.

    But before she could stop the That’s So Raven star, Symoné marched head first into truly controversial, and potentially career threatening territory.

    During a recent interview for Winfrey’s Where Are They Now? program, she declared that she was simply tired of being “labeled.”

    Said Symoné, “I don’t want to be labeled ‘gay’, I want to be labeled ‘a human who loves humans.’”

    She added, “I’m an American. I’m not an African American; I’m an American.”

    And then Oprah tried to throw out an “anti-controversy life-line”.

    Winfrey sputtered, “Don’t set up Twitter on fire. Oh, my lord. What did you just say?”

    Raven could have simply said that she didn’t believe in letting other people label her and that she wanted to be her own person.

    However, Symoné decided it was time everyone knew exactly where she was coming from.

    “I don’t know where my roots go to. I don’t know how far back they go. I don’t know what country in Africa [my ancestors are] from, but I do know that my [American] roots are in Louisiana. I’m an American. And that’s a colorless person.”

    Raven will no doubt set black Americans on edge with her comments, not to mention gay Americans and persons who are both black AND gay.

    But the 28-year-old former child star simply wants everyone to understand that she rejects preexisting labels that she personally does not identify with.

    Is Raven Symoné on to something? Should people of color and others be more thoughtful about what labels they accept (or reject)?

    Or did she fail to take key factors into consideration before making her declarations to Oprah?

    It’s possible she may not get as much flak for her “gay label” remark as pansexuality is an increasingly acknowledged form of human sexuality.

    However the “I’m not African-American” remark, which comes on the heels of Pharrell’s remarks, may lead to a rather heated debate.

    At least, among those people other than Raven Symoné who label themselves as African American and people of color.

  • Racist Woman Poised for Viral Infamy After Insane, Almost Unbelievable Rant

    I’d like to start this off by saying that this woman be crazy. This woman be so crazy she’s almost a little too crazy. This woman be so crazy that it makes me question the authenticity of this video, simply based on the fact that even crazy people are rarely this crazy.

    But if we take this video, uploaded Thursday, as genuine, we have quite the viral star on our hands! Congrats lady – like this racist stripper before you, you’re now a candidate for the racists caught on camera hall of fame. Take a bow.

    It appears that the crazy person was involved in a minor accident with our cameraman. This did not make her happy, and his appearance seems to tip her over the edge. Here is a sample of some of the crazy exhibited by our soon-to-be viral star.

    “F*ck you, if I had a gun I would shoot you dead.”

    “I’m gonna goddamn kill your kids and your mother.”

    “You f*ckin Muslim.”

    “You blow up school bus children, you goddamn son of a n*gger-lovin atheist bitch.”

    That last one was a doozy, huh?

    Here’s the thing. The video, which has amassed nearly 350,000 views, was uploaded to a comedy channel and let’s be honest, seems almost unbelievable. It’s probably real, because people are insane – but I’m going to hope, for the sake of humanity, that this is some sort of bit.

    Image via YouTube screenshot

  • eBay Sucks Slightly Less Than Others at Diversity

    eBay just followed suit and released their gender and ethnic diversity figures, and it looks like the company have hurdled a pretty low bar. Or limboed a very high bar. Something easy.

    According to eBay, their company is made up of 58 percent male employees. This beats Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, who have all released their diversity figures over the past couple of months (in that order).

    On the high end, both Twitter and Google are 70 percent male, and on the low end Pinterest is 60 percent.

    “As a leader in commerce and digital payments, we take diversity seriously. Since eBay was founded in 1995, we have believed in the power of technology to democratize commerce and create more opportunities for all. We believe in the same power of inclusion and opportunity inside our company. Enabling talented people to thrive matters. Diversity matters. It makes us stronger, and makes us better,” says eBay.

    “We believe sustained commitment can make a demonstrable difference. And we are far from satisfied. We will continue to strive for progress, and a stronger, better, more diverse eBay.”

    When it comes to ethnic diversity, eBay is 61 percent white – putting them somewhere in the middle of the other tech companies for that specific stat. But, with 5 percent and 7 percent respectively, eBay employs more Hispanic and Black workers than any of the other companies previously mentioned.

    “We are committed to publishing this data annually. We hope such transparency by eBay and other companies in our industry will help foster constructive debate, partnership and progress,” says eBay.

    As important as the company as a whole’s diversity figures are, the most telling sign that the tech world has a diversity problem comes in the leadership position diversity. Like all of the aforementioned companies, eBay skews heavily toward the white dudes. eBay’s leadership is 72 percent male and 72 percent white.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Twitter Is (Shockingly) White and Male Like the Rest

    In more tech companies are full of white guys news, Twitter says they have a lot of work to do when it comes to employee diversity.

    Twitter follows other major players in releasing their first ever diversity report, which shows that overall, they are a company dominated by white men – especially in their leadership circles.

    “We are keenly aware that Twitter is part of an industry that is marked by dramatic imbalances in diversity — and we are no exception,” says the company. “It makes good business sense that Twitter employees are representative of the vast and varied backgrounds of our users around the world. We also know that it makes good business sense to be more diverse as a workforce – research shows that more diverse teams make better decisions, and companies with women in leadership roles produce better financial results. But we want to be more than a good business; we want to be a business that we are proud of. To that end, we are joining some peer companies by sharing our ethnic and gender diversity data. And like our peers, we have a lot of work to do.”

    Just how much work? Well, quite a bit. Overall, Twitter is 70 percent male. If you look at purely tech roles, Twitter is 90 percent male. Looking at leadership positions, Twitter clocks in at 79 percent male.

    For comparison, this puts Twitter on par with Google, a little worse than Facebook, and a significant amount less diverse than Yahoo (who isn’t all that diverse).

    When it comes to ethnicity, Twitter is overall 59 percent White, 29 percent Asian, and negligible percentages Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and American Indian. In terms of leadership, Twitter is 72 percent White.

    While unsurprising, this sudden display of transparency from these major tech companies can’t be a bad thing. At least it gets the conversation rolling.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Yahoo Also Kind of Sucks at Diversity

    Yahoo Also Kind of Sucks at Diversity

    Following Google’s lead, tech companies have started to voluntarily reveal their self-reported diversity stats – basically showcasing the percentage of men vs. women and racial breakdown in their company demographics.

    The latest to do so is Yahoo who, despite being “committed to attracting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce,” still kind of sucks at attracting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce.

    Yahoo reports that 62 percent of its workforce is made up of men, which leaves 37 percent to women (there was one percent who identified as other/non-disclosed). That’s better than Google, who recently reported that it is 70 percent male, and a tad worse than LinkedIn, who is made up of 61 percent men.

    What’s more telling about Yahoo’s diversity are the job-specific breakdowns. 85 percent of Yahoo’s tech force is male, and most importantly, 77 percent of leadership (VPs and above) are men. The only place women edge out men is in Yahoo’s non-tech sector.

    Yahoo’s ethnic diversity is also a small fraction better than Google’s, but still not great. Yahoo says that 50 percent of its total workforce is white, 39 percent is Asian, four percent is hispanic, and only two percent is black. For comparison, Google’s respective breakdown was 61%/30%/3%/2%.

    But once again, take at look at the leadership. At the top, Yahoo is 78 percent white, 17 percent Asian, and one percent black. Its tech sector is dominated by Asians, at 57 percent.

    While Google expressed self-disappointment when they released their diversity figures, Yahoo simply says that they are committed to growing a diverse background.

    “These statistics are only a part of the story – Yahoo works to ensure that our existing employees feel welcome and supported during their time at the company. We have a wide range of Employee Resource Groups that serve people of diverse backgrounds and are highly engaged in their respective communities. For example, Yahoo received a 100% Corporate Equality Index score and was named a “Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality,” said Yahoo Chief Development Officer Jackie Reses. “Overall, our goal at Yahoo is to create a workplace culture that attracts and retains all talents, regardless of background, and to help our people grow to their full potential.”

    Yahoo did hire a woman as CEO when they poached Marissa Mayer back in July of 2012. But reports like this one show that companies, and especially tech companies, still have a ways to go if they are committed to true workplace diversity.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Danica Patrick Crashes During Practice, Finishes 18th in Bristol

    Friday’s practice at Bristol Motor Speedway was quite a bumpy start for NASCAR driver Danica Patrick.

    Only a few minutes into the practice run, the 31-year-old’s No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet crashed into Parker Kligerman’s No. 30 Swan Racing Toyota.

    Following the collision, Kligerman’s team attempted to fix his car while Patrick returned to the race track in a backup Chevrolet.

    However, she wasn’t the only driver who crashed and had to resort to a backup car.

    Justin Allgaier’s soon found himself collided with the wall.  Kyle Busch’s wreck followed the same scenario. Both were forced to use backup cars.

    Greg Biffle also went to a backup when he crashed only a half-an-hour later on the front chute.

    NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin sat out and watched the first 15 minutes of practice.

    According to ESPN, he told the Associated Press that the wrecks were probably due to “Goodyear’s tire compound producing faster speeds” mixed with highly accelerated embankments on the 0.533-mile track.

    “It’s just the speeds are so much higher than we’ve seen,” he said. “It takes a little getting used to. We are all out there fighting for a tenth of a second, a hundredth of a second at Bristol. I think it comes more from us pushing the edge than it is treacherous.

    Two other drivers, Matt Kenseth and Rick Stenhouse Jr., both scraped the wall towards the end of the session, but didn’t incur major damages.

    Five-time Bristol winner Kurt Busch ultimately had the best practice time.

    The clip below shows Patrick’s crash during the Bristol practice:

    Unfortunately, Patrick’s bad luck just didn’t stop there. 

    During Sunday’s icy and rainy race, Patrick, who started at 36th, only had 50 laps left when she decided to exit on the pit road.

    Clint Bowyer’s No. 15 Toyota was two stalls ahead of Patrick. As she departed the pit, Patrick hit the acceleration and her vehicle headed towards the right rear side of her opponent’s car.

    “I only had fourth gear, so that’s why I hit Clint in the pits,” Patrick said, according to ESPNW. “I hit Clint in the pits. It wouldn’t go. I dipped the clutch and it got sideways, and when it caught it went straight and it wouldn’t stop.”

    Fortunately, Patrick hit the breaks in enough time to not cause as much damage, something she says would have been a “shame” if they had to restart or go back to pit.

    She later said: “I have days where not a single thing goes wrong, but I finish 30th, so on a night like tonight where about everything went wrong, I’ll take it.”

    Although this past weekend was pretty rough for Patrick, she finished 18th in the Food City 500.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Melissa Harris-Perry Apologizes for Jokes About Mitt Romney’s Grandson

    Another week brings us another TV network that people are threatening to boycott. Melissa Harris-Perry ruffled a few feathers after jokes were made about Mitt Romney’s black grandson on her show. On the Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, Harris-Perry showed the family picture Romney posted to his Twitter account during the holidays. In the center of the photo, Romney is seen holding his black grandchild, which prompted Harris-Perry’s panelists to make a few jokes.

    In the Melissa Harris-Perry episode that aired on December 29, the Romney family photo was shown during a Caption That segment. “Everybody loves a baby picture,” Harris-Perry said, “and this was one that really, a lot of people had emotions about this baby picture this year. This is the Romney family. And, of course, there on Governor Romney’s knee is his adopted grandson, who is an African-American, adopted African-American child, Kieran Romney.”

    After Harris-Perry showed the picture, Pia Glenn sang “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn’t the same.” Comedian Dean Obeidallah used the photo to make a crack about the Republican party. “I think this picture is great,” he said. “It really sums up the diversity of the Republican party, the RNC. At the convention, they find the one black person.”

    Check out the Romney family photo below.

    It didn’t take long for the complaints about the jokes to start rolling in, with many people calling the comments “disrespectful” and “racist.” Harris-Perry apologized for the comments made about Romney’s grandson during the show on Twitter yesterday. Check out the apology tweets below.

    Even though Melissa Harris-Perry apologized, this isn’t enough for some folks. Check out the tweets where people call for Harris-Perry’s head and threaten to boycott MSNBC below. Unlike the Duck Dynasty-A&E situation, no petitions have popped up yet, but maybe people are still recovering from the New Year’s Eve celebrations.

    Image via Twitter

  • Racially Diverse TV (Both On and Off Camera) Drives Higher Ratings [STUDY]

    Although racial minorities and even women are “woefully underrepresented” on TV as leads, writers, and creators, a UCLA study has found that the key to higher ratings is employing a racially diverse team – both on screen and in the writing room.

    “This is one of the first studies, to my knowledge, that attempts to flesh out the relationship between the issue of diversity among cast members and writers and the bottom line,” said Darnell Hunt, professor of sociology at UCLA and author of the study. “While this brief is just the first snapshot in what we envision as a multi-year study, it certainly lends support to an argument we have been making for a long time. Everyone in the industry talks about the importance of diversity, but it clearly isn’t priority one when decisions are made. And it’s not going to be a priority until people realize how it affects the bottom line.”

    And the bottom line is that diversity drives ratings.

    Well, Hunt analyzed over 1,000 TV shows, airing across 67 different networks (both cable and broadcast), during the 2011-2012. And what he found was that the cable shows that boasted the highest median ratings sported casts that were between 31% and 40% minority. The study cites shows like TNT’s The Closer and Falling Skies as examples.

    The same was true for broadcast network TV as well:

    The importance of diversity to the bottom line was just as pronounced in broadcast television as it was in cable during the 2011–12 season, the researchers found. Median household ratings peaked among broadcast television shows that were 41 to 50 percent minority, while ratings took a dive for shows with casts that were 10 percent minority or less.

    This may not be that surprising to you, considering a diverse cast has the ability to draw in a diverse audience. That seems logical.

    The most interesting part of the study came when Hunt looked at the writing staff for his group of popular cable TV shows. He found a “ratings slump” for shows that had writing staffs that featured 10% minority or less, and a peak rating for show whose writing staff were comprised of 41% to 50% minority.

    The only hitch in these seemingly consistent results came when he looked at the writing staffs of broadcast TV shows, which showed only a slight advantage (ratings wise) to shows written by a racially diverse team.

    TV viewers are not all the same, and they don’t want to see casts that are all the same. That’s apparent. And as far as diversity on the creative side? Well, scripts peppered with the voices from different ethnic backgrounds are going to be more textured, insightful. Who better to accurately portray the experience of a minority than a member of that minority group? In my experience, TV is successful when it, to some degree, imitates the variety in real life – and this study suggests that networks would be wise to make a serious note of that.

    Image via YouTube