Jesse Jackson: Tech Industry Needs To Be More Conscious Of Diversity

The Reverend Jesse Jackson was scheduled to demonstrate this morning in front of Amazon headquarters in downtown Seattle.

Members of the Service Employees International Union rallied there in a show of support for efforts to unionize Amazon's security workers.

Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH Coalition have challenged tech firms around the country to release data on their employee demographics.

Amazon held out for months. Finally, in late October, Amazon released statistics that show 15 percent of its workforce nationwide is African American. But, there's a catch: Amazon's numbers include tens of thousands of lower paid warehouse workers.

KUOW’s Marcie Sillman met with Jackson on the University of Washington campus Tuesday evening to talk about the continued lack of diversity in the tech industry.

“They are not as conscious to diversify women and people of color as they ought to,” Jackson said. “We did not know how good baseball could be until everybody could play, so if you lock out one half of the market, you’re locking out money, market, talent and growth.”

The issue, Jackson explained, comes down to access to education and training.

“There’s nothing that we cannot do. That’s another myth that they have perpetuated: that they cannot find qualified people. If you go to a forest and can’t find an apple tree, you don’t give up on apples. You get some land and you clear it and plant apple seeds,” he said. “So teach what you want, teach to your needs.”

Produced for the Web by Kara McDermott.