February 26, 2016
Zuckerberg Sends Warning to Employees For Altering “Black Lives Matter†Slogan
Gizmodo reports that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sent a stern internal memo when it was discovered some employees were crossing out the “Black†in “Black Lives Matter†and replacing it with “All.â€
[Related: Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Welcome Baby Girl and Pledge to Give Away $45 Billion]
“There have been several recent instances of people crossing out “black lives matter†and writing “all lives matter†on the walls at MPK†(Facebook’s Menlo Park, California headquarters),†Zuckerberg’s internal message begins.
“Despite my clear communication at Q&A last week that this was unacceptable, and messages from several other leaders from across the company, this has happened again. I was already very disappointed by this disrespectful behavior, but after my communication, I now consider this malicious as well.â€
Facebook’s headquarters feature a signature wall where employees are free to write on and express their thoughts. Zuckerberg in the memo writes that while the company encourages free speech, “Crossing out something means silencing speech, or that one person’s speech is more important that another’s.â€
Zuckerberg concludes by writing that, “This has been a hurtful and tiresome experience for the black community and really the entire Facebook community,†and that the company was “investigating†the incidents.
He then encourages employees to participate in the Black @ town hall on ¾ to “educate themselves about what the Black Lives Matter movement is about.â€
The young tech magnate has been increasingly politically and socially active, of late. Late last year he announced that he and his wife were establishing a $45 million foundation dedicated to global good causes and improving the world.
He also recently posted about the injustices and need for reform in the prison system after visiting San Quentin. He wrote about the visit on his Facebook wall, “Making our criminal justice system fairer and more effective is a huge challenge for our country. I’m going to keep learning about this topic, but some things are already clear. We can’t jail our way to a just society, and our current system isn’t working.â€
The lack of diversity in Silicon Valley has been a hot-button topic. It was revealed that blacks make up less than 2% of the workforce at top tech companies including Facebook.