Jesse Jackson exhorts Oakland teens to pursue tech jobs

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has shifted his civil rights sights to Silicon Valley in recent months, where the high-tech workforce doesn’t look like the Rainbow Coalition he once envisioned for society. Or anything like Oakland.

It does not, he said Wednesday to an auditorium full of teenagers at Oakland Technical High School, look enough like the students assembled to hear the civil rights icon speak on diversity in the tech workforce.

“Somehow, someway, (Silicon Valley) has passed over you,” he said. “They’re going to India and China.” And that needs to stop, he told the students. “Somehow, we must choose the future over funerals,” he said. “Life over death.”

Jackson’s visit followed an announcement earlier this month that Intel will provide $5 million combined to Oakland Tech and McClymonds High School over the next five years to boost computer and engineering programs, especially for disadvantaged students — who are underrepresented in the tech industry.

Read more: http://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/Jesse-Jackson-exhorts-Oakland-teens-to-pursue-6290599.php?t=f223477d0300af33be

[KeepItReal]

1. “The goal is Intel. The goal is Google. The goal is Facebook.”

That's the right message.

[Skittles]

2. Jackson seems to think jobs go to China and Inda because qualified people cannot be found here

that is a bullshit corporate / repuke meme and it is disconcerting to see him buying it

[Scootaloo]

4. I think you might be missing his thrust n/t

[KeepItReal]

5. He didn't say that. He said Silicon Valley is overlooking local talent.

SV has a real diversity problem.

It starts with good ole boy networks, offshoring for cheap labor, H1-B Visa abuse, and an incestuous culture (you only get hired at a startup if you come from a startup).

[Skittles]

6. and I am saying REGARDLESS of local talent, jobs would still be pimped to China and India

they don't give a f***

[KeepItReal]

7. I totally agree with you on that!

That point just wasn't as clear in your above statement.

[LeftyMom]

3. Anybody remember the last tech bubble?

I know it was fifteen whole years ago, but I remember an awful lot of underprivileged people being pushed into IT degrees and specialty certifications just in time for the industry to crash, their educations to be worthless, and for them to be unable to get work (skills out of date, too long unemployed in the field, the usual excuses) when the industry rebounded.

Telling kids in Oakland to get into a career where there's a terrible boom and bust cycle, almost no legal protections and an exploitative labor culture even for relatively empowered employees seems like a terrible idea. That's even discounting the very real racism in the industry.