Posted on 07/17/2020 12:13:08 PM PDT by karpov
Cisco Systems Inc. has fired a number of workers over racial comments made during a virtual all-hands conference on race and diversity last month.
Precisely how many employees were dismissed or when they were let go is unclear. Bloomberg reports that San Jose-based Cisco confirmed it fired a “handful” of employees. Bloomberg said it will not name those employees because it could not confirm their identities.
According to screenshots obtained by Bloomberg, the posts made by the fired employees included “Black lives don’t matter. All lives matter,” and “People who complain about racism probably have been a racist somewhere else to people from another race or part of systematic oppression in their own community!” Another comment stated that the phrase “Black Lives Matter” singles out one ethnic group and thus “reinforces racism.”
The remarks were made during a June 1 videoconference that followed the killing of George Floyd while he was in the custody of Minneapolis police officers. In that meeting — the first in a series — Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins spoke with Bryan Stevenson, a Black lawyer and author who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, and Darren Walker, who is also Black and is president of the Ford Foundation.
Cisco stated that out of 10,400 comments made at the forum, 237 objected to either the meeting itself or its content.
Francine Katsoudas, Cisco’s executive vice president and chief people officer, read the most offensive statements aloud in a later all-hands videoconference and explained what the company considers legitimate debate: “You have a framework where red absolutely is crossing the line,”she said, per Bloomberg. “But if someone has a question or they don’t understand something, there’s a way for them to ask that question. We went through and just placed things on that spectrum.”
(Excerpt) Read more at bizjournals.com ...
I’d hire a lawyer and sue. This is political persecution.
We now live in a totalitarian society.
“Conversation” does not equal “lecture.”
The invitation for comments is just to ferret out the people they want to get rid of.
Cisco is one of the worst places to work in the Silicon Slum because it’s now basically an Indian outpost - they are the heavy majority.
HR is just trolling the idiots to see who will out themselves.
Meanwhile, the Federal lawsuit against Cisco continues. The one where they accuse Cisco Indian management of discriminating against everyone else, including lower caste Dalits who ended up working there.
If this was billed as an open forum and they fired people for wrong think, then I would think they have a case for wrongful termination. But I’m no lawyer.
> All lives matter
If Cisco fired someone for saying all lives matter, then they’re lying about wanting diversity, especially diversity of opinion.
That’s not racist. It’s realism.
This crap is making me steaming mad.
I work at a large company, and they have been sending out all kinds of BS about a company-wide eight minutes of silence to show support for Black Lives Matter because that was how long they knelt on the guy’s neck, and how we have to show support for diversity and opposition to inequality and blah blah blah.
They are sending out a questionnaire next week to all employees about what we can do, and I am going to give them an earful.
I have begun viewing this racist crap as a hostile work environment.
Every one of them are Caucasians
Yes, I’d sue
Where are the conservative legal groups offering to represent these individuals pro-bono?
Crickets. Why our side sucks.
there is no free speech within a corporation. they can terminate at will. now the better course is to welcome debate and try to convince aka “re-educate” employees who disagree with the premise, but that is no longer permitted by the radical leftists. Instead, they just purge
Get a lawyer,.
First rule of corporate life. If your employer says, “We want your honest opinion” they don’t. Not unless it matches what the corporate policy is.
I think the purpose of these “Diversity” meetings is to find an excuse to fire white people.
So true.
Did someone really believe we still had freedom of speech and that this is a free country?
I honestly feel sorry for people who say things such as All Lives Matter. Or Everyone Is Equal. Dangerous things to blurt out if anyone is around to hear you now.
FReepers used to put me down for being that cynical. Now I'm a moderate.
How do you argue with “all lives matter”? Is that not true?
“All Lives Matter”
Welcome to 21st Century HateSpeech.
DoublePlus BadThought.
The political firings have to stop. Legislative relief is needed, and woe to any RINO or libertarian who stands in the way.
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