Disco Tech 4/21/21 Disco Tech 4/21/21

#2 Being Black in tech

This edition is focused on the experiences of Black tech workers. We are excited to share an interview with Kristal Conner, a Black activist, advocate, and survivor.

#2 Being Black in tech

This edition is focused on the experiences of Black tech workers. We are excited to share an interview with Kristal Conner, a Black activist, advocate, and survivor. Let’s dismantle discrimination in tech together.

We are looking for your feedback (and title suggestions) - tell us what you think here!

If this was forwarded to you, subscribe here.

#TechTruths

In our TechTruths campaign we are gathering stories of discrimination across the tech industry with the goal of drawing attention to the scope of the problem. Below is a sampling of the stories we’ve received. These stories focus on the experiences of Black employees. You can read all the stories on our website, and can submit your own here.

Content Warning: Racism

TechTruth #32: "He then goes on to tell me 'I have a friend who is black as night but I don't care if you're purple or polka dot; I don't see color.'" (full story)

TechTruth #116: "You can either make a stand and have your career limited or accept racism should be the norm and move on." (full story)

TechTruth #100: "I asked my teammates to go, and one response I got was that there was no point in learning about this stuff, because we would never be on a team with Black people." (full story)

TechTruth #70: "He was disappointed that our company wasn't observing MLK Day. The White guy sitting beside me replied something like: 'That's okay, we can take you out to KFC for lunch!'" (full story)

TechTruth #49: “At Amazon I worked with a Black man who was working on his promotion to SDEII. Getting promoted was anything but easy for him: he wasn’t even being treated with respect by his teammates, let alone being held to the same bar for promotion.” (full story)

TechTruth #20:"A white male colleague of mine found a distribution list called BlackChicksWhoCode. He said 'Look! This is so racist! Where's the one for WhiteDudesWhoCode?'" (full story)

At Issue

For this edition, we spoke to Kristal Conner about her experiences in the tech industry and what she thinks needs to change. Here is Kristal in her own words,

“Hello I’m Kristal Conner. I’m an activist, advocate, and survivor. I’ve recently retired from 15 years in the Edtech and Big tech space to launch social justice, philanthropic, and health advocacy programs for marginalized communities. Connect with me on LinkedIn.”

Companies do a lot of public PR about their support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and other social and environmental causes. Do you think their behavior matches up to their words?

“No. Companies do what they must to preserve their brand reputation and profits. Solidarity statements for many companies ring hollow as we’ve seen time and time again. Before BLM, there were plenty of public lawsuits and settlements, protests, and attrition because of hostile, toxic, racist work environments. Employers were slow to move then and had no incentive to support their black employees. The incentive now seems to be avoiding backlash. Employees don’t need statements. Employees need action from employers and a workplace free from racial discrimination, micro-aggressions, bias, and pay disparities.”

What racism have you experienced in your career?

“It’s interesting because racism is very hard to prove. Many racists don’t believe they’re racist. Also a racist can easily explain away racist behavior with any excuse. ‘Oh, I didn’t mean to call you an angry black woman.’ ‘So sorry, I forgot to include you in the meetings.’ ‘I’m so sorry I forgot to cc you in the emails.’ ‘I’m not racist, I have 1 cousin that’s black.’ ‘I didn’t mean to make that slave joke.’ On and on. But what racists can’t explain away is a pattern of behavior. They also can’t explain away preferential treatment given to white employees and sheer neglect of black employees. Those things are provable and I became an expert at navigating and documenting those situations.

“I’ve encountered racists throughout my entire career. Having my work and ideas stolen numerous times. Being intentionally excluded from meetings involving my work for an entire year. Being gaslit when I’ve spoken up about racial discrimination. Being subject to slavery comments and jokes. Being told I look safe and smart because I’m a lighter skinned black woman. Having a manager tell me stories where his family would, in his words, ‘Take em round back. String em up. Feed em to the pigs.’ I can recount so many of these incidents. Each of them come with trauma.

“Whether these individuals knew it or not, they communicated to me that I didn’t belong, that I was not worthy or good enough to be in my role, despite being more qualified, certified, and more degreed than them and my peers. These individuals effectively communicated intimidation, isolation, and hostility through words and action. It was also very easy for them to do when I was the only black employee present. It was easy for HR and management to make the racist, discriminatory, and bias acts of others, my fault.”

Did you witness any other concerning racism or discrimination throughout your career?

“Absolutely. Black employees had their hair petted like animals. Black employees were denied promotions because someone didn’t like their attitude. Black employees were managed out because they spoke up against racism. Black employees were leveled down when they were qualified to be hired in at a high level. Black employees were made to do menial degrading tasks for managers. Black employees were terminated simply for being black while working. Black employees were paid less than their less qualified white counterparts.”

How did you respond to the things you experienced and witnessed? Did you find any support?

“I spoke up to management and HR. They did nothing but defend themselves and tell me my claims had no merit. I sought legal counsel. It was the only way to get justice. I’ve also helped others get justice as well. No one deserves to be subjected to racism anywhere, especially the workplace where your livelihood, opportunities and earning potential are at stake.”

How did these experiences impact you and how did you get through them?

“These experiences have taken a huge toll on my mental and physical health. The stress, fear, anxiety, and constant fight to be treated fairly and equally is exhausting. Expending the brainpower to do my job while also fighting against white employees, who are making my work life miserable, is devastating. Racism is a public health crisis. I don’t have a history of colon cancer in my family but I was diagnosed July 2020 at 36 years old. I can’t prove it but I know that the stress of enduring such hostile workplace experiences created recurring inflammation in my body and many ailments. I was very depressed and not in a position to help my body fight off the cancer. I’m currently on a much deserved career break though, my health has improved and I’m grateful to share that I’m cancer free.”

Do you think big tech companies are an anomaly among other companies, or do you think they are particularly toxic?

“The toxicity isn’t big tech or other company specific. We live in a toxic society with citizens that uphold white supremacy and enact racism in all its insidious forms against black people and people of color. This toxicity permeates all levels of society and particularly the workplace where we interact with each other the most. Companies are filled with people no different than Derek Chauvin, Dylan Roof, or George Zimmerman, etc; people who believe black people do not belong and have no right to exist in this country. When people, who hold these beliefs, are in positions of power in the workplace; they put our lives, careers, reputation, and wealth generation at risk. By 2053, black households will have a median wealth of zero.”

How do you think tech workers can be more anti-racist in the workplace?

“Despite the racism I’ve faced throughout my career, there have been several non-black allies who have supported me. They spoke up when they saw horrible things happening. They risked retaliation and blacklisting for being anti-racist. They partnered with POC colleagues and educated themselves on how to be allies. They made referrals to people in their network that could help. I think tech workers can be more anti-racist by being courageous and empathetic. It takes a tremendous amount of courage, fearlessness, and empathy to fight racism, especially when you’re someone who has never experienced it. I’m truly thankful for my anti-racist colleagues who used their voice and leveraged their privilege to be in solidarity with me.”

What do you think big tech companies need to change?

“They should change their hiring practices so that bias is eliminated from the entire intake/interview process. They should mandate diversity and inclusion training for all executives, managers, employees, and contractors. Diversity and inclusion metrics and goals should be tied to leadership compensation. Employees should have a safe space to report hostile work experiences to an entity outside of HR. Companies should be more transparent regarding racial composition of management vs employee roles. They should investigate deeper into black employee attrition. They should terminate perpetrators of hostile, racist, and discriminatory acts; not give them a warning or transition them throughout the company.”

What are you up to now?

“Now, I’m enjoying my career break and digging into my passion projects. I’m currently serving as Director of Strategy, Outreach, and Research for the Individual and Corporate Accountability project; a grassroots project dedicated to holding companies accountable to the statements of solidarity issued in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. If you are interested in getting involved, email DiscoTech at hello@discotech.tech or DM on Twitter and they will connect us!

“I’m developing CRC (Colorectal Cancer) Under 50, an education and advocacy org helping folks under 50 early-detect and prevent colorectal cancers.

“I’m a contributor for the Interracial Sisterhood Community, a network of powerhouse women fighting institutionalized racism.

“I’m also working on an app with my boyfriend called CoupleMates, helping couples connect via social events in their local community.”

Things to check out

In the news:

What We’re Up To

Amazon shareholder resolution

Last year, we filed a shareholder resolution at Amazon asking for a report on promotion velocity broken down by gender and race. We have resubmitted the resolution this year and it passed an SEC challenge from Amazon! Check out the recording of Amazon employees that we played last year at the annual shareholder meeting. This year, Amazon is not allowing resolution filers to submit a recording with more than one voice in it. We’d like to think that our powerful message last year got to them!

Other random fun

Watching all the seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race
Applying to (and getting!) new jobs 👩‍💻 👨‍💻
Getting vaccinated!

And Action!

Interested in DiscoTech? Like the content of this newsletter? Here are some things you can do to get involved:

If you forward this newsletter to 5 friends or coworkers, we’ll send you one dogecoin!
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
If you want to become involved in DiscoTech - attend actions and happy hours, work on the newsletter, or draft witty but thought provoking tweets - send a message to hello@discotech.tech, or reach out to us on social media.

About DiscoTech

We are a diverse group of cross-tech organizers who are committed to ending discrimination in the workplace -- discrimination by race, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, immigration status, etc.

We aim to work within and outside of existing processes inside the tech industry not only to increase awareness of discrimination but also to help institute large-scale changes to end it.

DiscoTech is on Twitter and Instagram. Information on how to submit a story, subscribe to the newsletter, or get involved is on the DiscoTech website.

We’re here for you!

Have a question or concern? DM us on Twitter or email us at hello@discotech.tech.

Tags:

Disco Tech 2/19/21 Disco Tech 2/19/21

#1 AWU, Alabama and more!

We are excited to share an interview with an Alphabet Workers Union member below. (Alphabet is the parent company of Google.) Let’s dismantle discrimination in tech together.

#1 AWU, Alabama, and more!

Welcome to the first edition of the DiscoTech newsletter! We are inspired by the tech community and are excited to share an interview with an Alphabet Workers Union member below. (Alphabet is the parent company of Google.) Let’s dismantle discrimination in tech together.

We are looking for your feedback (and title suggestions) - tell us what you think here!

If this was forwarded to you, subscribe here.

#TechTruths

In our TechTruths campaign we have gathered over 100 stories of discrimination across the tech industry with the goal of drawing the attention to the scope of the problem. Below is a sampling of the stories we’ve received. You can read all the stories on our website, and can submit your own here.

Content Warning: Sexism, Sexual Harassment, Racism

TechTruth #113: "I have been told several times by colleagues that I should not be working in technology (as they pointed to brown-skinned window washers cleaning the building windows of our offices)." (full story)

TechTruth #85: "I hear one of my fellow interviewee say exasperatedly - 'I guess there goes my shot at this, we all know they're probably filling the diversity slot today." (full story)

TechTruth #101: "A skip level manager [(man)] told me [(woman)] "On this team silence is consent," in his closed door office" (full story)

At Issue

Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), a trade union of workers at Alphabet Inc., launched on January 4th, 2021 with the mission to ensure that their workplace conditions are fair and inclusive. The organization promotes solidarity, democracy, and social and economic justice. We talked to Raksha Muthukumar, one of the active members of AWU about activism and organizing. Here is Raksha in her own words,

“I'm a queer programmer and community organizer. I've been doing some form of community organizing around queer liberation/racial justice/leftist politics for the last decade and now I'm really excited to play my small part in the tech labor movement. I like writing and podcasting on these topics, you can see my stuff at raksha.gay. I'm also a hamster mom! I'm obsessed with my little nugget Molly; she's an escape artist and a walnut lover and her instagram is @molly.so.spoiled.”

People have been trying to organize tech for a while, but we haven’t seen many tech unions. What was the key to Alphabet Workers Union’s success?

“I think the prospect of tech unions has been bubbling up for some time now! We've organized in so many other ways for years now, with walkouts and petitions, but we've never had the formal protections of a union. Then through initiatives like the Tech Workers Coalition and CODE CWA, we started seeing workers coming together and discussing a real union structure. I really credit CODE CWA for their initiative to reach tech workers and help us realize that unions were a route for us. Tgh experience in this space really helped us get over the initial hump of learning our rights, learning to talk to our coworkers, and learning to navigate union busting tactics.”

How can people replicate your organizing in their own workplaces?

“The first step is talking to your coworkers. Find out what they love about their jobs and what are their sour points. Do they feel underpaid because of their immigration status? Do they feel pressured to work late hours even though they have kids at home? Do they feel doubtful about the direction of the company's ethics? What matters in your workplace? There's no universal right answer to this question so no 2 workplaces will organize the same way.

I encourage folks to get plugged in with CODE CWA or Tech Workers Union 1010! They've been hosting workshops on how to talk to your colleagues and how to really get the ball rolling. I found these sessions really useful for the tangible skills I needed to start this process.”

What do you hope for the union to achieve?

“My number 1 goal personally is solidarity. I hope that our union can stand with fired AI ethics leaders just as much as underpaid cafeteria staff. And I hope our efforts here galvanize other workers in the tech industry to adopt the same solidarity model! I'd love to see uber/lyft engineers walking out when their drivers are exploited, or amazon office workers strike with their factory colleagues.”

How have the reactions been since the union was announced, inside and outside Google?

“I think it's been amazing! When we went public we had around 200 people; 3 weeks later, we have over 800!!! I'm genuinely floored to see how many of my colleagues feel similar to myself about workplace democracy and raising our voices at google. It's been galvanizing and encouraging and a real validation of what we've been talking about for so long. There is some anti-union sentiment in the company as much as anywhere else, but my impression is that a lot of it is based in confusion around what a non-majority union like ours can actually do. I hope that we can address a lot of those concerns as we continue to act and stand up for one another.”

What do you think are the biggest issues in the tech workplace?

“I have a hard time ranking things! I like that our union allows us to work on multiple things in multiple committees and I can trust my colleagues without having to fight every individual battle myself. I think contractor compensation is important, I think racism and sexism have gone unchallenged for too long, I think that building an ethical technological future is our responsibility! I believe in our union's ability to address all of these issues and more!”

Why do you choose to stay at Google and unionize instead of finding a different workplace?

“I ask myself this often. I think that, right now, the problems that I see at Google are mirrored around the tech industry. The issues of contractor and gig worker exploitation, unethical privacy and AI standards, tech lobbying and policy stances are endemic to silicon valley. The opportunity to potentially change that and set an example with our efforts at Google feels like a chance to really change ALL of that, not just the culture at Google.

Also -- I want to say that I'm happy in my current role. I work on an open-source project with people I feel respected and challenged by. I unionized because I want to see bigger picture decisions at Google reflect the workers voices, and I've recently felt a disconnect between the workers' and the execs' perspective on Google's direction.”

Unions still seem taboo in the US. Do you think that is changing? If so, what is changing it?

“I think that American workers were absolutely burned by unions in the past and there's some absolutely valid lingering skepticism about them. But I think that, unfortunately, avoiding unions didn't solve the problems of sexism, inequality, and corruption that permeate our workplaces and lives. One thing that gives me a lot of hope in AWU is that we're taking a really conscious approach to being anti-racist and transparent in our decisions. We're building structures to elevate marginalized voices, and structures to rectify our mistakes if and when that goes awry. I can't say the same thing for most of our workplaces. I think Americans are coming back to unions because we've realized that the only way to fight for ethical wages, benefits, treatment, is by coming together. I won't say that unions are unilaterally perfect, but I will say that I'll choose democracy and transparency any day over the alternative.”

Following AWU’s announcement on their international alliance, Alpha Global, there have been reports of disagreements within the organization members. Here is Raksha’s response to those reports.

Things to check out

The ongoing Amazon union vote from Bessemer, AL, stands to be one of the most important union votes of our lifetime. Courageous workers from this majority-Black town have banded together to stand up and fight for their right to collectively bargain. Reporting indicates that Amazon has resorted to a varied palette of anti-union tactics, going so far as to change the pattern of traffic lights in order to reduce the time available to talk to union workers at the intersection outside the warehouse.

If you’re interested, read more at some of the following links. The workers in Bessemer deserve your support.

A Historic Union Vote Gets Underway at Amazon (Wired)
Amazon Workers Share the Shocking Tactics the Company is Using to Stop Workers From Forming a Union (More Perfect Union)
- Amazon changed traffic light timing during union drive, county officials say (Verge)

Google employees quit over Timnit Gebru’s exit https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/04/tech/google-employees-quit/index.html

Medium employees unionize https://mashable.com/article/medium-employee-union/

Signal messaging app grows in popularity https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/tech/signal-growth-whatsapp-confusion/index.html

What We’re Up To

Imagining Interracial Sisterhood

DiscoTech members attended Imagining Interracial Sisterhood, an event where friend-of-DiscoTech Kristal Conner spoke about the support she has received from her interracial relationships. The event provoked thoughtful discussions about creating and sustaining interracial sisterhoods in your personal life and at work. We were reminded of Shine Theory, a concept coined by interracial friends Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman.

9to5: The Story of a Movement Panel

Hana Thier, co-founder of DiscoTech, sat on the panel of an early showing of the documentary 9to5: The Story of a Movement. She spoke about what we can learn from the organizing that the 9to5 group of Bostonian secretaries were using in the 1970s to fight for better pay and working conditions. Check out the PBS website for how to watch the film.