Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed to employees in an email this week that Apple will make $2 million worth of donations to organizations “who work to rid our country of hate.”
The donations come as a response to the tragic events of Charlottesville which Cook told employees have been deeply troubling for him personally. Cook, who has first hand experience with the devastating impacts of the KKK, took aim at President Donald Trump in his letter for supporting the white supremacists and says that Apple plans to play an important role in bringing about positive change.
To kick things off, Apple will donate $1 million to both the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. In his email that was posted on Reddit, Cook says that Apple will add an option in iTunes to make it easy for others to donate to the SPLC too. Apple will also match employee donations to the organization two-for-one.
Here’s the full letter:
Team,
Like so many of you, equality is at the core of my beliefs and values. The events of the past several days have been deeply troubling for me, and I’ve heard from many people at Apple who are saddened, outraged or confused.
What occurred in Charlottesville has no place in our country. Hate is a cancer, and left unchecked it destroys everything in its path. Its scars last generations. History has taught us this time and time again, both in the United States and countries around the world.
We must not witness or permit such hate and bigotry in our country, and we must be unequivocal about it. This is not about the left or the right, conservative or liberal. It is about human decency and morality. I disagree with the president and others who believe that there is a moral equivalence between white supremacists and Nazis, and those who oppose them by standing up for human rights. Equating the two runs counter to our ideals as Americans.
Regardless of your political views, we must all stand together on this one point — that we are all equal. As a company, through our actions, our products and our voice, we will always work to ensure that everyone is treated equally and with respect.
I believe Apple has led by example, and we’re going to keep doing that. We have always welcomed people from every walk of life to our stores around the world and showed them that Apple is inclusive of everyone. We empower people to share their views and express themselves through our products.
In the wake of the tragic and repulsive events in Charlottesville, we are stepping up to help organizations who work to rid our country of hate. Apple will be making contributions of $1 million each to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. We will also match two-for-one our employees’ donations to these and several other human rights groups, between now and September 30.
In the coming days, iTunes will offer users an easy way to join us in directly supporting the work of the SPLC.
Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.” So, we will continue to speak up. These have been dark days, but I remain as optimistic as ever that the future is bright. Apple can and will play an important role in bringing about positive change.
Best,
Tim
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
48 responses to “Tim Cook’s letter re: Charlottesville will break your heart”
This guy again? He’s getting extremely tiresome.
No one forced you to spend any of your precious time here.
Can’t wait for his memo on the slaughter in Barcelona today.
Are you loving the slaughter and hate?
It’s an honest question, not a statement which you kindly made it of.
Cult of Mac Comment Policy
Keep it civil! No name-calling, no dirty words, no spam.
Jobs and economy are growing under what was passed in the Obama administration. Trumps numbers don’t take hold until November if I remember correctly.
Like I said, if I remembered correctly. I’ll be sure to look further into it but if I find a stark contrast between what you said and fact, I’ll have to discredit your comment.
Dude…
You’re spraying posts like a 3 pecker’d puppy.
Fox news is that way >>>>>>>>
nope. the stock market went up cause trump was electe3d. this despite the leftist fools saying that it would crash
But Trump doesn’t have any policies signed into law. It’s all lip service. he kind of has to sign new bills into law to actually see something tangible. You do know the difference between talk and action? Trump’s been lying his tail off since before he got into office. But I guess you believe every word that Dictator says.
“…so they will twist his [Trump’s] words as they seek to destroy him.”
Tump is doing a fine job destroying himself. His words came out of his mouth twisted already; no one needed to twist them. When Trump said that some of the people marching along with Nazis and white nationalists in Charlottesville were “very fine” people, his twisted mind revealed its true self to anyone with ears to hear.
Trump: “But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.”
No. There were zero “very fine” people marching with those who were chanting, “Jews will not replace us.” Zero.
There were either Nazi-sympathizers marching with those Nazis and other white nationalists, or simple fools.
You can’t win an argument with someone that has no intention of listening to anything that goes against their pre-concieved (and usually completely wrong) view. Give it up Justin. They are the exact people they claim we are…they are just to dense to see it.
Thank god SOMEONE ELSE Can see this. They are exactly the opposite of who they THINK they are but somehow they don’t have a clue. It’s really strange behavior. Like they were all brainwashed or something. And they will still insist we are the brainwashed ones.
Justin, you really need to go some where else. It’s obvious you are brainwashed, and you only listen to Trump. Trump is a liar, he’s been caught many times flipping on what he ran on during his campaign. He’s a hypocrite as he hasn’t signed anything serious into law since he’s been in office and he’s played golf 4x more than Obama did during the same time period. He can’t even keep his own staff in office. He’s a dictator through and through and when he doesn’t get his own way, he starts to throw tantrums. It kind of sounds like you too. Hmmm.
The White Supremacists were throwing things at the others, they were chanting vile hate speech towards Jews and you think they have the right to do that because you have a permit? Really Justin, your moral compass is off. WAY off.
You are in a state of denial and maybe after you mature and think about what really happened. Don’t listen to Trump, there are lots of videos on what was going on that some haven’t been shown on any TV station.
Brainwashed of the commies? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. you are truly delusional.
There are different types of people that sway right, left, in the middle, etc. to think that everyone is either extreme right or extreme left is just being completely delusional.
Where are your facts that everyone on the left is on the side of North Korea, Iran, Syria, Russia. Where are your facts.
There can’t be good people on the side of the white supremacists. PERIOD. He said there were good people on that side. He clearly stated that.
Justin, I can’t change your mind and you can’t change mine. I think you are delusional in many of your statements and you obviously are brainwashed by a man that clearly is getting people of his own party to not support him.
Yes, the people that weren’t white supremacists were on the other side.
If they weren’t white supremacists, then what were they? Please explain.
And no, I’m not a girl or even female. But I happen to have seen many videos that I never saw on TV with the media, they were privately posted on YouTube. I saw a bunch of white supremacists, dressed up in home made riot gear, helmets, some were carrying hate speech signs, and some were throwing rocks, bottles and cans at the others trying to incite a riot. Permits do not give someone to incite a riot. That’s what their hate speech, throwing rocks will do, especially if you have some loser run people over with a car hurting and killing people. You seem to be on the side of the white supremacists because you are protecting them.
That is right, Justin. Nothing is true coming from the MSM. It has be filtered and basically take the exact opposite.
The Left Power Elite and Right Power Elite are effectively the same? How so. Please describe both sides and explain how they are the same.
He is. you don’t have to listen to the media, you just have to pay attention to his speeches and what he says.
I don’t care if someone had a permit, did you see the signs they were carrying around and what they were chanting? That’s certainly enough to incite a riot. They took advantage of their permit to spout vile hate speech against Jews.
The law does NOT allow people to throw rocks at a protest. The law does NOT permit people to run people over with a car. The Law does not permit acts of violence. That was going on before the cops did anything.
i find it odd that after condeming a particular group he went on to say “that we are all equal. [apple] will always work to ensure that everyone is treated
equally and with respect [except for those we don’t like]. the billionaire fool also praised “those who oppose them [nazis] by standing up for human rights” fcuk me. antifa was armed to the teeth and started the rumble.
antifa in fact started the viloence.
I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I saw a video where there were White Supremacists throwing rocks before Antifa got violent. I wasn’t there, but I saw several videos and based on what I saw in the videos, that’s what it looked like to me. But not all of the people on the left are part of Antifa, they just show up creating violence to counteract the right.
There have been protests that erupted in violence in the town I live and it was CLEARLY white supremacists carrying weapons, beating people up and Antifa wasn’t there from what I could tell and no one even mentioned them in that protest.
Not all people on the right are nazis. It goes both ways
By the way, Trump has condemned both antisemites and kkk on several occasions, going as far back as at least the first time he wanted to run for office. The information is easily available if you want to. Stop listening only to demonstrably corrupt media such as CNN, NYT, WaPo etc
So now that we have established that Trump has in fact condemned these hate groups, please show me where the liberals have condemned antifa, the violent part of BLM etc.
You can’t because it’s hypocrisy in it’s most extreme form. The double think is astounding
Twist and distort truth, that’s when the danger happens and it’s happening with regularity. How many times does DT have to “disavow”. Look it up, he has even way before being President. Has the left/MSM ever even once “disavolved” the violence from the Alt Left? Nope. Antifa has violence wherever they go. Get real people and seek truth, don’t just let ANY news group spoon feel the mind. My gosh.
Yup. I’m anxiously waiting for Cook or any other prominent left winger to condemn Antifa, BLM and islamic terrorism but we all know this will never happen
Hate speech is defined by the left as anything they disagree with, even scientific facts
Look no further than Google firing an engineer for posting a memo that was very objective and backed by science
Antifa is not a racist hate group, and neither is BLM. Islamic terrorism is totally different.
You seriously are distorted in what BLM and Antifa are. They aren’t racist hate groups.
BLM is protesting senseless killings of blacks by cops. That’s what they are upset about. They are an activist group protesting racist crimes against blacks. NOTHING wrong about that group. Yes, there have been a couple idiots that shot off guns at cops at a protest event, but that’s not typical of BLM protestors. Many BLM protestors aren’t even black, but their cause is noble. They are protesting racially motivated crimes against blacks and lately, there has been a rash of cops killing blacks that were acts fo senseless violence.
Antifa is a group of anti-racists that show up to these protests to guard people from the Neo-Nazi’s the typically become violent.
Do NOT put Islamic Terrorists in the same sentence as BLM or Antifa, that’s just being completely ignorant as to what BLM or Antifa are all about..
Go look up the term Facism, You’ll see that Nazi’s are listed as facists, and racists. Then go look up the term Antifa, That’s a group of ANTI-Facists that are against these Neo Nazi’s.
Remember WWII and the war against Hitler and the Nazis? The US was acting just like Antifa, going to war against Racism and Nazis…
Seriously, you need to check the words you use and what their meanings and who these groups really are all about.
Complete non-answer and i know perfectly well what the words i use mean. Something i very much doubt is true in your case
Antifa has been responsible for far more violence than any right-wing group since Trump got elected. Go read up on what happened during the G20 in Hamburg and then come back here and claim they’re not a violent group. They are all about political violence, by their own admission, yet liberals won’t condemn them
Textbook hypocrisy
Also your analogy with US and Antifa in WW2 is so laughably bad i suspect you lack the proper education to actually understand the current political climate
So fact number 1
Antifa is a very violent group
Now for BLM
Well, they claim to be fighting for equal rights yet their entire foundation is wrong. The fact is (and anyone with somewhat decent math skills can verify this themselves) that black people are vastly more likely to commit violent crimes pr capita. That means they’re also vastly more likely to get into conflict with the police. So the claim that there is systemic racism in the police and they’re slaughtering innocent black people is retarded. Sure, there are racists in the police, like in any other group, but there is zero proof of it being a widespread problem and many of the cases they refer to turned out to be cases of black people doing criminal acts or failing to follow police instructions
As for their violence – they have killed several innocent cops. That’s not violence in your opinion? Why aren’t liberals standing in line to condemn this type of political violence?. By the way it’s very easy to dig up examples of racism against white people by prominent BLM members. Please explain that
And as for it being a couple of idiots – well guess what? Not all right wing activists are neonazis or facists. So why is one part guilty by association when the other one isn’t?
So to sum up – you STILL haven’t answered why all these liberals aren’t condemning political violence from the left
We both know you can’t explain it though because it’s a classic case of doublethink aka the go to liberal fallacy
What you do is divert everyone’s attention away from Neo Nazi’s and White Supremacists, etc. and move to the others and act like they are worse?
WOW.
You sound like what Trump and typical brainwashed right wingers are when someone focuses on the weaknesses of the Right Wing.
Nazi’s are a threat to the world, because they are racist. If you don’t understand that, then you have a moral compass issue.
Now, you claim that it was Altifa at the G20. It depends on who you talk to and what article you read. I read some articles that were OBVIOUSLY on the right that were claiming it was Altifa, but I read some other articles that didn’t mention Altifa specifically. And then I was reading some comment from someone that said the protestors were called “black bloc” and they are really violent people that just show up to cause Anarchy as that’s their thing.
So I honestly don’t know what to think about these other events you speak of in Europe as I wasn’t there, and I’ve read many different sources of who were those violent ones and there are many different positions on this subject, so I really can’t discuss it any further because I don’t have enough validation from a credible source, because you certainly are against anything Left wing because it destroys you racist mentality. If Schwarzenneger stood up and posted his video, I’d actually listen to him right now as he’s one of the view Republicans that has knowledge of Nazi’s, and understands that mentality first hand. But maybe you don’t want to listen.
Math skills? Well, just because some blacks are getting arrested for criminal activity doesn’t mean that cops should automatically think that all blacks are criminals. There have been a bunch of shootings and deaths by cops against blacks that were not doing anything wrong, they weren’t posing a threat to the cops, they were being as nice as they possibly could, yet the cop having their stereotype black mentality thinking they all are drug addict criminals, etc. shot and kill a bunch of them. I’ve seen many videos of cops pulling blacks over for some stupid violation that resulted in a cop shooting a black person where the video clearly showed that the black person was posing no threat whatsoever, didn’t have a weapon in their hands, was complying with everything the cop was requesting, yet the cop shoots them, the person dies right there on the spot. Some of them are just ridiculously out of line. Some of the cops were brought up on mansslaughter charges, some aren’t.
Yet, I’ve seen countless videos of white males, with loaded guns and assault rifles in broad daylight and all the cop does is treat them like they are their best friend, they check out the weapon and then they let them on their merry way saying what they are doing is legal. Yet if a black person had a weapon, with a permit, I doubt they’d treat them the same. That’s what BLM is protesting, they are protesting the unfair treatment towards blacks that have resulted in many deaths of innocent, law abiding people that posed no threat. Cops aren’t supposed to just kill people, or bash their heads against something when it wasn’t even a major issue. They are getting out of hand. I’m not saying that all cases the black person is totally innocent, because I know that some of the situations, the black person did have a weapon, did pose a threat, etc. etc. but there are many cases where the black person wasn’t doing anything wrong to deserve being shot and they didn’t have a criminal record, they didn’t wave a weapon or being threatening in anyway shape or form..
As far as the shootings against cops at a BLM rally. Yes, unfortunately, there are a few idiots out there that do that, but that’s not the norm, those are anomalies. most of the BLM are trying to be as peaceful as possible but they are understandably upset with the way some cops are treating them.
I saw one video where a black man j-walked and the cops went after him and he was just walking away from them and they eventually shot/killed him, but he didn’t have a weapon in his hands. They could have easily handled it in a more rational manner with a taser or something that wouldn’t have killed him. I’ve seen videos where they have beaten people up repeatedly far more than was necessary and the person was obviously not posing any threat or fighting back, yet the cops just continued to beat on the guy for more than a minute of constantly beating him and he was already not fighting back from the onset. Police are supposed to serve and protect, not take out their personal aggressions on someone for some minor violation that’s not posing a threat. And no, I’m not suggesting that all cops are like this. Fortunately, some are very polite and don’t do that crap, but for the ones that are. They need to retain these individuals or just get them out as quickly as possible and bring them on charges.
Heck, I saw one video discussing a cop kills a freaking kid that has a mental problem that called the cops needing help, the cop ends up killing this kid, and THEN he goes and tries to sue the family for $10 Million for the mental anguish over killing their son. Another disgusting display by a police officer. How they even got an attorney to take their case is beyond me. The family lost their son because the stupid cop kills him, and they want to sue the family? I don’t know how wrong that is, but that certainly takes the prize for the worst cop award. And you think for one second that BLM is a hate group? PLEASE. You really have a moral compass that simply doesn’t work very well, if at all. Skin color does not define someone to be a criminal.
Just because Blacks have a higher arrest rate doesn’t mean that all black are criminals and it doesn’t mean that white people are all good people. Some whites are just as bad as anyone can get. Ever hear of Charles Manson? DIdn’t he have a Swastika tattooed on his forehead? Seriously. And maybe, just maybe, many of those crimes are petty crimes like getting caught with some weed, when now, it’s legal in many parts of the country. And maybe there’s just as many whites doing the same thing, yet instead of sending them to prison, they just take their weed away and give them a warning. did you ever think of that?
yes, I don’t like thugs either, but there are thugs that are white, black, asian, etc. and just because you may not like one particular group of race doesn’t mean that everyone from that race is a thug.
I think you need to take a course in critical thinking and understand that you are using things like inductive reasoning, and fallacious reasoning instead of checking the validity of what you are talking about and doing some further fact checking.
…And wouldn’t it be something to find out if this whole “incident” was orchestrated and planned in advance. Wouldn’t that make you sick in light of human beings losing their lives? I hope it would but I’m not sure some groups can look past their bias glasses.
Jobs aren’t growing because of Trump. He didn’t sign any bills into law to help the economy. If so, what bills did he sign into law? Name them. Heck, he can’t even get the Republicans to pass his Healthcare bill because it’s worse than the one we have.
Seriously Justin, Trump is no savior, he’s no saint, and he certainly didn’t handle this well, especially since he’s tries to act like the White Supremacists have a right to spout vile hate speech. They should have removed them from carrying the signs they were carrying and then their chanting. What they were doing was inciting a riot because of their hate speech and chanting.
Both the Congress and Senate is controlled by the Republican Party. He got the Congress to pass the Healthcare bill and they didn’t even read the thing. But it got held up in the Senate. Please pay attention to what’s going on.
I saw many interviews where they asked people in the congress right after they voted if they even read the bill, and all of them that were interviewed said NO. They hadn’t read it. They passed it without having any discussions or debates prior. It’s the Senate that has held things up, which is also Republican controlled. They are keeping the Democrats from being able to discuss it and go through the democratic process. There’s supposed to be a democratic process where both sides can discuss different aspects of the bill to change them. But the Republicans didn’t allow the Democrats to be part of the process. Did you not see Orrin Hatches statements? That guy should have stepped down since he clearly doesn’t even know what he’s doing. He barely knows what day it is. Hillary isn’t in any part of the Government anymore, so why bring her up? She isn’t an elected official or hold any position within the government. Neither does Obama.
BTW, I didn’t vote for either Hillary or Trump in this last election, my conscious wouldn’t allow it. My Republican friends didn’t vote for Trump either, they think he’s off his rocker and even they think he’s probably going to get impeached. They laugh at him just like others do. He’s clearly the mind of a dictator and he whines, promotes himself, even when there isn’t any reason. He’s getting out of hand and people in the Republican Party are distancing themselves from him.
Trump was worse, he is much more of a dictator and he’s a loose cannon that’s so into himself, he’s the only President that got elected that complains about the election being rigged. What the F? Who does that? He gets elected and complains that it was rigged because he didn’t get the majority vote, he got the electoral vote and he was slamming the electoral vote as being a scam before the election. He’s a worthless idiot. He’s gone bankrupt 4 times and he always gets his Daddy to bail him out. He blames Obama for playing too much golf, yet Trump has played 4x as many rounds of golf in the first 6 months than Obama. Go figure.
Didn’t Trump say he was going to get Mexico to pay for the wall? Mexico has said on multiple occasions that they aren’t paying for it. Trump’s an idiot. He shouldn’t say something unless he knows he can get it done.
Stalin opposed nazis. I wonder if Cook thinks he was a great guy
But there are OTHER reasons to not like Stalin, but Stalin is not the one in question, so why are you changing the discussion to something that’s not the same thing? you can have people that don’t like Nazis that also don’t like Stalin. You are aware of that, right? Stalin was just a different kind of dictator, but a dictator none the less. You simply do not know how to properly assess the situation and you need to study critical thinking so you can see how your arguments are completely fallacious. You seem to be using inductive rather than deductive reasoning. You need to work on that.
Buddy, i’d ease up on the insults if were you, considering your lack of reading comprehension and context awareness
You’re only displaying your own ignorance
Why would you think that Tim Cook would like Stalin? He was a dictator. Tim Cook doesn’t want a socialist dictator running this country. Remember, he supported people of both parties during the last election. We live in a Democracy where there is more than one party and it’s not being run by a Dictator. So where has Tim Cook even suggested our country to be run by a socialist Dictator? Seriously. What’s wrong with you? I made no direct insults to you, only your line of reasoning. There’s a difference.
Alright, let’s try to simplify this so even leftwingers can keep up
Tim Cook says you can’t equate nazis and the people using violence against nazis
The implication here is of course that Antifa are the good guys so it’s ok they use violence. You know, standard liberal doublethink
So in order to mock this hypocritical and extremely simplistic view, i mentioned one of the most famous anti-nazis in history, who just so happened to also be one of the worst mass murderers. Incidentally he was also a communist which is something he shares with Antifa
By the way it seems this site is now censoring anti-left replies as my 2 other replies to you have been stuck in pending for almost 24 hours. So i won’t be replying to you anymore
I can’t help you, Jonas. You need psychological help.
But your line of reasoning is fallacious on so many levels. go seek help from a psychologist that specializes in helping racist people deal with their issues. You have issues Jonas. Lots of them.
I stated facts. Those numbers are from the Obama administration
Fact can’t be racist
Your entire argument on the other hand has been based on throwing around insults (seriously, go through your posts and count the amount of times you’ve resorted to ad hominem)
Also, you have yet to provide ANY proof of anything you’ve stated. You make claims and demand people accept those as facts and yet you claim to understand the concept of critical thinking. You’re doing the exact opposite
Someone needs psychological help but it’s not me, it’s the guy who cannot keep on topic, is incapable of countering points, throws around insults constantly, denies objective facts and then try to claim the high road
I hope, for your sake, that you’re young and you simply lack a proper education
Your facts don’t prove your hypothesis. You use fallacious reasoning, Please stop bothering me, you simply don’t listen, you spout support for Neo Nazi’s and racist mentality and I have no time to help you. You should spend some time with a psychologist. Maybe they can help you.
You are simply not someone I wish to speak to anymore.
Antifa is not trying to create a Totalitarian society like Stalin. They are just anti-fascists that are standing up against Fascism, plain and simple nothing else. They aren’t trying to create a society or government that’s based on Stalin’s ideology. They are just antifascists and they are trying to protect people at these protests that are not facists against these Fascists that stir up violence. The Neo Nazi’s typically are the aggressors and Antifa is typically just defending others from these Aggressors because the Police aren’t stepping in fast enough to stop the Neo Nazi’s.
It is possible to be against Nazi’s AND Stalin at the same time and be either Liberal OR Conservative. Imagine that. People from both the Liberal and Conservative parties can meet in the middle and be against both Nazi’s AND Stalin mentality at the same time.
Your problem and that of people with YOUR mentality, is that you only see in black and white, so if you aren’t white, then you are black. Sorry, the world simply doesn’t work that way.. And you need to grow up out of your brainwashed mentality perpetrated by the extreme right.
Tim Cook primary job sell more iPhones uses news to do it. Headlines…sick
All orchestrated by Tim , what will have impact?