Tim Cook met with Rev. Jesse Jackson on Monday in a private sit down that was described as ‘positive and productive’ by the civil rights leader.
Jackson is in the Bay Area this week to promote a workshop hosted by his Rainbow PUSH Coalition that is focused on closing the racial gap in the tech industry. USA Today reports that the Cook and Jackson talked for over an hour, and while Jackson wouldn’t mention what they talked about specifically, he said he came away impressed.
“I am impressed with him and the conversation,” Jackson said in an interview on Tuesday. “He has a real vision for Apple and he sees the value in inclusiveness.”
Cook’s profile as a civil rights leader has raised considerably in 2014 after he came out as the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Tim has also spoken publicly about growing up surrounded by discrimination in the Alabama, and he’s pushed Apple to be more diverse by releasing employee data, and marching with the fellow employees in this year’s Pride Parade in San Francisco.
Diversity in the workplace was probably one of the main discussion topics during Jackson’s meeting with Cook. The Reverend is taking part in a rally outside Apple HQ on Thursday to protest the growing income gap in Silicon Valley. Jackson has been a tough critic of tech’s elite companies by calling attention to the continued lack of women, blacks, and Hispanics at Silicon Valley’s top firms.
Source: USA Today
