After several incidences where the slogan “black lives matter” that featured on the walls of Facebook headquarters at Menlo Park was crossed out by company employees and replaced with “all lives matter”, the CEO of the social media company has moved in to rebuke the ones involved.
According to Mark Zuckerberg, the statement “black lives matter” has nothing to do with saying other lives don’t matter at all. It’s just a way of reminding everyone that the black community also deserves the to achieve the justice every other community has.
“’Black lives matter’ does not mean other lives don’t,” the Zuck wrote. “It’s simply [a way of] asking that the black community also achieves the [kind of] justice that they deserve.”
The Facebook CEO was unhappy that despite his recent “clear communication” during a company Q&A session that such behavior was “unacceptable” in the organization, the set of employees still went ahead and removed the slogan.
“I was already very disappointed [by the respective behavior] before, but after my communication, I do consider this behavior as malicious,” he added.
The slogan comes from a 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed a black American teenager by the name Trayvon Martin. The phrase was coined by one activist Alicia Garza. The slogan has now come up again after police killed unarmed black men across the country. In essence, “black lives matter” is a movement that many believe “all lives matter” has come in to rebuke.
Most Facebook employees are white and male
The tech industry is not the only where the dominant race is white while the dominant sex is male. At Facebook, the story is the same as the company is also dominated by white males. According to a recent diversity report, only 81 of Facebook’s 5,500 employees are black.
To deal with this deficit, Facebook introduced a number of initiatives that include a requirement where hiring managers must consider at least one candidate from minority groups. In addition, the company runs a training program known as Managing Bias that tries to instill an inclusive culture where diversity is fully supported.
In a bid to ensure that all employees are aware of the need to embrace diversity, the CEO is encouraging the staff to come and join in a company meeting to be held on March 4. According to the Zuck, the “town hall” meeting is designed to educate those in attendance about what really the “Black Lives Matter” movement is actually about.