| Hi folks, it's Shelly. In a massive public show of support, Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Salesforce.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google and more than 200 other tech companies came out last week to denounce the killing of George Floyd or support the Black Lives Matter movement. Many leaders of America's most valuable companies donated millions of dollars to organizations supporting the black community. It's not enough. The numbers have long shown that the tech industry is an inhospitable place for African-American workers. Black employees make up just 1.5% of technical roles at Facebook Inc. and 2.4% at Google, according to their most recent diversity reports. At Apple, which didn't disclose diversity numbers last year, 6% of technical roles in 2018 were filled by black people. And despite a recent uptick in transparency, and some progress among entry-level hires, those statistics have barely budged since the companies began disclosing them in 2014. Will McNeil, co-founder and chief executive of Black Tech Jobs, a Chicago-based tech recruiting firm, says he welcomes execs' renewed energy about addressing the problem. But, he says, "the real question is, Do they have the stomach to press forward with real commitments?" What meaningful reform looks like isn't exactly a mystery. McNeil recommends that companies place less emphasis on employee referrals, since majority-white workforces tend to refer more people who look like them. He stresses that executives should hire diverse middle managers, rather than focusing only on entry-level hires, because people in senior roles wield more influence in the organization, can help smooth the road for newer hires, and seed executive pipelines. He says companies should also hire multiple black candidates within a group at the same time, so that new non-white employees have a built-in support group. Some common-sense steps are already being taken to address tech's gender imbalance. For example, some employers have instituted hard metrics for hiring female candidates. Companies can and should set similar goals for hiring black candidates, McNeil said. Of course, hiring isn't the only issue that technology companies will have to confront if they're serious about promoting racial equality. Facial recognition, for example, has a higher error rate for minorities, and critics say the technology can lend itself to misuse and discrimination. Companies like Nextdoor Inc. and Airbnb Inc. have also faced criticism for enabling discrimination in neighborhoods and on vacations, respectively. Even dramatic and laudable gestures, such as Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's decision to step down from the company's board to make way for a black replacement, are undercut by the darker realities on tech platforms. Reddit is among a number of companies criticized for providing forums for racist content. McNeil believes that lasting positive change can spring from the current moment. But all the letters, vows and supportive Instagram posts won't mean much the sentiment doesn't quickly lend itself to action and accountability. "All tech execs say they love diversity," McNeil says. "But how many have asked their front-line decision makers to hire black people and held them accountable in any way?" The outpouring of support is just the beginning. —Shelly Banjo | 
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