If you’re working in the corporate world, you are already very aware of the microaggressions and covert forms of racism that exist. From being judged for how you look or penalized for undergoing self-promotion, it is challenging to exist in spaces that society did not build for us nor welcome us. A new study by the National Library of Medicine has revealed that management perceived self-promotion very differently depending on who was partaking in it. The study indicated that Black employees who promoted their work were rated ‘less favorably’ on job performance
Despite attempts to downplay the extent of racism in the UK, a new report is the latest to demonstrate the widespread nature of racism in public life. According to the Racism at Work in the UK report by Pearn Kandola, 61% of Black employees experienced racism in 2021. That figure may come as a shock to many, but to us, it is nothing we didn’t know already. The vast majority (74%) of employees surveyed believed racism to be a massive problem in working environments, a figure which has risen since 2018. The report also
According to Twitter trolls, the old rules against bigotry and hate speech no longer apply now that Musk has officially taken over the popular social media app. The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) shared that the number of tweets using the N-word had increased by 500% more in 12 hours following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Yoel Roth, Twitter’s Head of Safety and Integrity, also reported a huge increase in tweets with bigoted content, racial slurs and hate speech. He tweeted that a short-term trolling campaign was largely to blame, with
In response to a racial bias case against electric vehicle-maker Tesla, a countersuit action has been put in place against the agency responsible. The case filed in state court in Alameda County claims the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) took “underground regulations” in its investigations of Tesla’s factory. The most popular vehicle maker said they were not given adequate notice of the claims or time to resolve the dispute, which violates state law. As we previously reported, the CRD sued Tesla earlier this year after workers claimed the organization racially
A prominently Black farming town in the US has been left with no access to clean water due to racist policies, forcing the residents to turn to technology to develop water on their own. According to a report by KQED, Allensworth, a town in California, has been denied access to clean water after the pumps on a few of the city’s water wells failed. Even though the system is quite old and more prone to breaking, not much has been done to help the community in this area. Founded in 1908, Allensworth
Capitol Music Group has severed ties with the FN Meka project following accusations that the AI rapper perpetuated racial stereotypes online. FN Meka, a virtual “robot rapper,” created by the founders of Factory New, a “first of its kind, next-generation music company specializing in virtual beings.” In a short time, FN Meka amassed over 10 million followers on TikTok and 500,000 monthly Spotify subscribers based on music and lyrics generated by an AI based on popular rap music. The robot rapper, which industry professionals described as a “preview of what’s
Oakland-based tech entrepreneur, George Hofstetter, experienced a severe racial incident during his trip to study abroad in England. Hofstetter’s response to the racist abuse has taken social media by storm, with many commending the 22-year-old for his brave and teachable response to the disturbing racism he experienced during his studies. So, here’s what happened. George Hofstetter, founder and CEO of US-based tech company GHTech, joined a summer school program hosted by Oxford University, located at Hughes Hall, Cambridge University. On July 15, the university decided to host a formal dinner
Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Opal Tometi has urged the tech sector to take robust action against perpetuating racism in systems such as facial recognition. “A lot of the algorithms, a lot of the data is racist,” U.S. activist Tometi, who co-founded BLM in 2013, told Reuters on the sidelines of Lisbon’s Web Summit. “We need tech to truly understand every way it (racism) shows up in the technologies they are developing,” she said. Her comments come just a day after Facebook announced it was shutting down its facial recognition
A jury has ordered Tesla to pay nearly $137 million in damages to a former Black employee after it was found to have ignored his racist abuse claims while working at its California factory. Owen Diaz, first hired through a recruitment agency, worked as a freight elevator operator between June 2015 and July 2016 at the manufacturer’s Fremont plant in the San Francisco Bay area. And according to documents, during his tenure, he suffered racist slurs, including the “n-word” and a hostile work environment. “Tesla’s progressive image was a facade
