Apple CEO Tim Cook has penned an open letter, published on Apple’s website, and linked to atop the Apple.com homepage, titled “Speaking up on racism.”
Here it is, verbatim:
Speaking up on racism
Right now, there is a pain deeply etched in the soul of our nation and in the hearts of millions. To stand together, we must stand up for one another, and recognize the fear, hurt, and outrage rightly provoked by the senseless killing of George Floyd and a much longer history of racism.
That painful past is still present today — not only in the form of violence, but in the everyday experience of deeply rooted discrimination. We see it in our criminal justice system, in the disproportionate toll of disease on Black and Brown communities, in the inequalities in neighborhood services and the educations our children receive.
While our laws have changed, the reality is that their protections are still not universally applied. We’ve seen progress since the America I grew up in, but it is similarly true that communities of color continue to endure discrimination and trauma.
I have heard from so many that you feel afraid — afraid in your communities, afraid in your daily lives, and, most cruelly of all, afraid in your own skin. We can have no society worth celebrating unless we can guarantee freedom from fear for every person who gives this country their love, labor, and life.
At Apple, our mission has been and always will be to create technology that empowers people to change the world for the better. We’ve always drawn strength from diversity, welcomed people from every walk of life to our stores around the world, and strived to build an Apple that is inclusive of everyone.
But we must do more. We commit to continuing our work to bring critical resources and technology to underserved school systems. We commit to continuing to fight the forces of environmental injustice — like climate change — which disproportionately harm Black communities and other communities of color. We commit to looking inward and pushing progress forward on inclusion and diversity, so that every great idea can be heard. And we’re donating to organizations including the Equal Justice Initiative, which challenge racial injustice and mass incarceration.
To create change, we have to reexamine our own views and actions in light of a pain that is deeply felt but too often ignored. Issues of human dignity will not abide standing on the sidelines. To the Black community — we see you. You matter and your lives matter.
This is a moment when many people may want nothing more than a return to normalcy, or to a status quo that is only comfortable if we avert our gaze from injustice. As difficult as it may be to admit, that desire is itself a sign of privilege. George Floyd’s death is shocking and tragic proof that we must aim far higher than a “normal” future, and build one that lives up to the highest ideals of equality and justice.
In the words of Martin Luther King, “Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.”
With every breath we take, we must commit to being that change, and to creating a better, more just world for everyone.
Tim Cook
MacDailyNews Take: Three more quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.:
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.
That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing.
—-
Thoughtful commentary on this issue is welcomed below. Please keep the discussion civil and on-topic. Off-topic posts and ad hominem attacks will be deleted and those who post such comments will be moderated/blocked. Permanent loss of screen name could also result.
Tim can buzz off. Sorry, but a whole lot of us DO NOT in fact harbor racist feelings. This some straight up BS, this is.
You are and your parents to thought you to hate. As well as base your life on white privilege is the problem with America! Carry your ass back to Europe!
Where ya gonna carry your ass back to?
Why would James go back to Europe? As a proud black man, shouldn’t he go back to Africa, not Europe?
HOW MANY MUSLIMS ARE ALLOWED TO WORK FOR APPLE? NONE!
THEY MAY NOT BE RACIST BUT THEY DO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST CLIENTS
WITH DISABILITIES THEY HAVE ACTUALLY TOLD ME TO USE A MICROSOFT
LAPTOP BECAUSE BILL GATES IS DISABLED
The ESSENCE eloquently stated…
Hey, Timmy: Fuck you. I am not a racist. I am not a self-hating gay, brought up Christian in Alabama, who therefore feels the need to pontificate to everyone else in a vain attempt to assuage my feelings of inadequacy. I do not loath myself because I sold out my company and country to a murderous totalitarian communist dictatorship.
What are your qualifications for lecturing everyone? Because you shut down U.S. manufacturing plants so you could source cheap parts from Chinese slave labor? Not much of a podium you’re standing on there, little man. You haven’t been elected to anything. You are a glorified parts-sourcer who’d still be a parts-sourcer if Steve Jobs didn’t die far too young of cancer. STFU.
Let’s hear from someone who has been elected, to the highest office in the land, no less. He says it far better than you do, you simpering beta who assumes every caucasian is racist. Project much, Timmy?
Here’s a far better, far healthier outlook:
The death of George Floyd on the streets of Minneapolis was a grave tragedy. It should never have happened. It has filled Americans all over the country with horror, anger, and grief.
Yesterday, I spoke to George’s family and expressed the sorrow of our entire nation for their loss. I stand before you as a friend and ally to every American seeking justice and peace. And I stand before you in firm opposition to anyone exploiting this tragedy to loot, rob, attack, and menace. Healing, not hatred; justice, not chaos are the mission at hand. (Applause.)
The police officers involved in this incident have been fired from their jobs. One officer has already been arrested and charged with murder. State and federal authorities are carrying out an investigation to see what further charges may be warranted, including against, sadly, the other three.
In addition, my administration has opened a civil rights investigation, and I have asked the Attorney General and the Justice Department to expedite it.
I understand the pain that people are feeling. We support the right of peaceful protesters, and we hear their pleas. But what we are now seeing on the streets of our cities has nothing to do with justice or with peace.
The memory of George Floyd is being dishonored by rioters, looters, and anarchists. The violence and vandalism is being led by Antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses, and burning down buildings.
The main victims of this horrible, horrible situations are the citizens who live in these once lovely communities. The mobs are devastating the life’s work of good people and destroying their dreams. Right now, America needs creation, not destruction; cooperation, not contempt; security, not anarchy. And there will be no anarchy. Civilization must be cherished, defended, and protected. The voices of law-abiding citizens must be heard, and heard very loudly.
We cannot and must not allow a small group of criminals and vandals to wreck our cities and lay waste to our communities. We must defend the rights of every citizen to live without violence, prejudice, or fear.
We support the overwhelming majority of police officers who are incredible in every way and devoted public servants. They keep our cities safe, protect our communities from gangs and drugs, and risk their own lives for us every day.
No one is more upset than fellow law enforcement officers by the small handful who fail to abide by their oath to serve and protect. My administration will stop mob violence and will stop it cold.
It does not serve the interests of justice or any citizen of any race, color, or creed for the government to give into anarchy, abandon police precincts, or allow communities to be burned to the ground. It won’t happen.
Those making excuses or justifications for violence are not helping the downtrodden, but delivering new anguish and new pain.
From day one of my administration, we have made it a top priority to build up distressed communities and revitalize our crumbling inner cities.
We fought hard with Senator Tim Scott and many others to create Opportunity Zones, helping to draw a surge of new investment to the places in our country that need it most. We must all work together as a society to expand opportunity and to create a future of greater dignity and promise for all of our people. We must forge a partnership with community leaders, local law enforcement, and the faith community to restore hope.
Radical-left criminals, thugs, and others all throughout our country and throughout the world will not be allowed to set communities ablaze. We won’t let it happen. It harms those who have the least. And we will be protecting those who have the least.
The leadership of the National Guard and the Department of Justice are now in close communication with state and city officials in Minnesota. And we’re coordinating our efforts with local law enforcement all across our nation.
In America, justice is never achieved at the hands of an angry mob. I will not allow angry mobs to dominate. It won’t happen. It is essential that we protect the crown jewel of American democracy: the rule of law and our independent system of justice. Every citizen in every community has the right to be safe in their workplace, safe in their homes, and safe in our city streets.
This is the sacred right of all Americans that I am totally determined to defend and will defend. My administration will always stand against violence, mayhem, and disorder.
We will stand with the family of George Floyd with the peaceful protesters and with every law-abiding citizen who wants decency, civility, safety, and security.
We are working toward a more just society, but that means building up, not tearing down; joining hands, not hurling fists; standing in solidarity, not surrendering to hostility.
— President Trump, May 30, 2020
Right. He spoke to George Floyd’s family, but they report that he wouldn’t let them talk to him. He did not appear interested in their concerns or broader community concerns. That just confirmed their opinion that black opinions matter no more than black lives to some Americans.
He has asked the DOJ to investigate the incident, but does not even acknowledge that this might not be an isolated problem within the Minneapolis PD, much less America as a whole. How could he? The head of the local police union is a national leader in Cops for Trump and is on record as thanking the President for unshackling them from local, state, and federal oversight.
In this long presidential statement, there is only one sentence that even admits the existence of tens (or hundreds) of thousands of peaceful protesters. The effect—and probably the intention—is to paint everybody who opposes racism as a violent looter. Admittedly, words supporting the First Amendment rights to speak, assemble, and petition would appear hollow in the wake of Lafayette Square.
A subtext is that black folks are too lazy or stupid to organize without white guidance from a national Antifa organization that has previously and remains so devious that there is no evidence for its existence (as opposed to the abundant evidence of individual anarchists and leftists acting on their own). This shadowy presence is worth labeling as a terrorist organization although the DOJ has refused any public focus on the white nationalist groups that have killed more than 120 people in the last three years while Antifa was killing none (according to the ADL; there are no official figures because the DOJ does not track right-wing violence).
Tim Cook and Apple are continuing Steve Jobs’ original mission to use technology to change the world. They will not be diverted down a white rabbit hole.
Ok, First. I said there was abundant evidence of individual anarchists and leftists. There is abundant evidence of other violence, too. How about this press photographer who was permanently blinded in one eye by a police marking round:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8373001/Journalist-left-blind-one-eye-shot-rubber-bullet-Minneapolis-protest.html
There has been mob violence and people have been hurt. That is horrible, but it does not justify police violence against unarmed civilians and journalists. Rather than decline in the light of the Floyd homicide, it seems that such attacks have multiplied.
The situation specifically does not justify a deliberate assault on Americans exercising their constitutional rights, all to facilitate a political photo op using the Holy Bible as a prop and expropriating a church to promote a message that the church’s clergy and congregation finds religiously offensive. Where is the outrage among the man’s Christian supporters?
To get back on point, it does not justify an attack on Tim Cook for upholding core American values.
I’m sick of the party line about peaceful protesters from screwball leftists and the media. When protesters marched on the Virginia capital to protest unconstitutional firearm restrictions, they were called white supremacists, terrorists, racists, and Nazis. Notwithstanding the fact that even though legally carrying firearms to show defiance, there was no violence or property destruction.
When protestors came out to protest the virus lockdown, they were decried for civil disobedience and endangering the public. There was no violence. When people on the right protest, there is never violence. Hell right wing protesters even clean up after themselves.
When these jackass racism protesters come out there is violence and widespread property destruction. Yet the party and its mainstream media maintain that the peaceful protesters didn’t do anything.
Bullshit.
I saw two types,of,protesters. The overtly violent and destructive terrorists, and the so called “peaceful” terrorists blocking streets and roads and obstructing cops and marching right along side the shock troops. I watched this shit going on right under my window. Don’t try to sell your “peaceful protester” lies here.
Save it for your lefty cocktail parties where you can all shake your heads in racist superiority while discussing the poor black folk problem. You don’t fool me.
AND MOST BLACK PEOPLE ARE LAUGHING AT YOU.
AWESOME! The best post by miles. Thank you…
“There is no evidence for its existence,” moron claims of Antifa.
The “moron” did not say Antifa did not exist. Perhaps a dozen local groups with ten or fifteen members plainly do exist, with a larger circle of sympathizers. I said that there was and is no evidence of a disciplined national organization. “Organized anarchists” is a contradiction in terms. The threat exists, but it hardly compares with the risks posed by militant right-wing groups.
Playing the Antifa card is the direct descendant of the way rich Southerners used the threat of slave uprisings to persuade poor whites to support them. If Trump supporters can be persuaded that all their troubles come from a leftist conspiracy, they might not notice that a pandemic, recession, and racial crisis all trace back to the desk where the buck stops.
You lie (as always).
Things President Trump Did Not Do:
So all three of your accusations against President Trump are fabrications, of course.
Just like your “Russia, Russia, Russia” three-years of bullshit which was actually caused directly by Obama, Biden, and their lackeys and your baseless, feckless “impeachment,” which will go down in history as a stain upon Democrats.
100% bullshit. Here’s the truth:
1) Trump called the severity of COVID a hoax. He capitulated when it was too late and then blamed China because he fucked up. China lies and has always lied. The self-proclaimed genius once again couldn’t seem to figure out what we generally call “common sense” and dropped the ball. In an attempt to deflect the right wing whackos continue to repeat some bullshit about “well he stopped all travel from China” (not true) and that the left called him racist (not true). They continue some bullshit narrative, using Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Chinatown as an example. I guess because they don’t realize that Chinatown is in America and the people who live, work and visit are Americans. She was concerned that the rhetoric would harm Chinatown because dumbass Americans hear “Wuhan” and think “I should now refrain from Dim Sum in Chinatown. This was before the SIP order – which they conveniently forget or lie about as well.
2) Because he fucked about holding his white supremacist-like rallies, golfed and tweeted “hoax” all day he delayed taking action which contributed to an exponentially worse situation and resulting recession (depression?). Make no mistake, unless you’re watching Faux News, it will be known as the Trump recession.
3) Although Trump acknowledged the cops were wrong, despite you countering Trump and saying they were right (did you check with your team before making that tactical error?? lol), as he has done since day one, doing his best to divide and not even trying to unite the people. James Mattis knows what the fuck is up and no amount of tweet deflections will change that. It’s a fact.
4) Russia was shut down by boot-licking Republicans, not disproven by any stretch. Now in an attempt to make Biden look bad in time for the next election Trump will do everything he can to make Biden look bad. Baseless, feckless – bullshit.
And now the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff feels compelled to issue a memorandum reminding troops not to follow unconstitutional orders? Trump is making a mockery of his office. Apologists like you will never capitulate but wow – what an embarrassment for your camp. Trump is a complete joke.
“Playing the Antifa card is the direct descendant of the way rich Southerners used the threat of slave uprisings to persuade poor whites to support them.”
Wow! What a stereotype liberal racist you are…
Tedious sanctimonious liberal drivel totally irrelevant…
And Tim descends even further into self-parody. SAD!
Says the guy who blindly supports a parody of a president.
Agreed, Obama was a great actor…
More sanctimonious SJW virtue signaling from Tim Cook.
Subtext: “We’re good people because we care. No guys, really.”
It come across as a pitiful plea for validation. Sad.
Auntie Tim should keep her pie hole shut and get to work. iOS and macOS are buggy messes, still. Apple TV remote sucks. Apple TV, Apple TV+, Apple TV this, Apple TV that – the product/service naming is a joke.
Nobody cares how much holier you think you are than everyone else, Auntie Tim.
Shut up and get to work. Try to at least earn 5% of your wild overpayment for what you do (not very well).
I assume you will be selling your shares, since APPL is at 322 and has nowhere to go but down on your accounting. When Cook took over, the stock was a split-adjusted 53 and has (by your accounting) suffered terribly thereafter.
The day after the letter was released, APPL is at 329. Really scared the markets.
Thanks for the sentiment Tim.
Just wondering how those apps are going for the Hong Kong protestors?
Whenever you’re ready.
June 4th; the anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. Though recently banned, Hong Kongers are still planning to go ahead with their annual ceremony of remembrance.
How does that Elvis parody from GeoB about diversion go?
If Tim really stood for social justice, he would speak for the Hong Kong protestors, the Ugyher Muslims, the Tibetans, victims of the global organ harvesting trade, the poor factory slave workers that work in tech company factories. No he won’t because fighting for those people means Apple needs to sacrifice money and market. If the bottom line is at stake he will drop his values like a hot potato. The man is a huge hypocrite.
Hypocrite Grande!…
Awesome!
Shows what a HYPOCRITE Tim is because the Chinese own him and he would not dare risk offending his overlords and threatening the almighty dollar on the backs of cheap labor…
I suppose you want him to take a strong position on human rights in China like this,
“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak … as being spit on by the rest of the world.”
—-Donald J. Trump, May 1990.
NO smug one don’t “suppose” and put words in other people’s mouths.
We can always count on you for Trump DEFLECTION cheap shots.
Why am I so doubtful whenever you are out of sight…
WooHoo…
Deflection… torments my heart
Deflection… keeps us apart
Deflection… why torture me
User play on lyrics from “Suspicion” by the King Elvis.
NOTHING to do with the post you responded to — imagine that.🤣
So the tedious king did not address ONE point in @Jin Xangyu post, not one. We all know why you can’t defend the indefensible. Deflection and cheap shots are all you have in the quiver.
You failed to acknowledge Tim’s blatant hypocrisy. Instead, you ignored Jim’s plea for citizens living under tyranny and Tim’s ignorance and LACK of help because as you know it would threaten Apple’s bottom line throwing a wrench into China manufacturing relations.
Bottom line: You and your hero Tim are self righteous SJW HYPOCRITES that pick and choose winners based on the almighty dollar. Shame…
Little Timmy could build an production plant near a deserving Black community and hire them into good paying jobs.
But, I guess he just doesn’t have any faith in their ability to assemble an iGadget.
Right. I’m sure we can find 400,000 Americans (of any color) who will relocate to staff an Apple contract plant with a promise of good pay for seasonal work. I’m sure we can find an American community that can absorb the workers, their families, and the million or so secondary workers needed to provide them with goods and services. Manufacturing 250 million iPhones a year is not a cottage industry.
Defending Cheap Chinese Communist labor AGAIN.
Nuff said…
Very creative take and would be an awesome noble endeavor for Tim to put company money where his SJW mouth is for a change and help black Americans. Imagine the photo op with President Trump and shot in the arm to the US, NOT the Chinese economy.
Unfortunately, HYPOCRITE Tim will never allow SJW politics to threaten the bottom line. To open a plant in the US near a black community he would have to pay a living wage, unlike the cheap labor in China he takes advantage of.
TxUser worries (s/) not enough workers can be found in the U.S. I smell red herring with the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression. As we all know he is a relentless defender of his hero.
The U.S. put a man on the moon and with the support of businessman President Donald J. Trump it can be done.
The ball is in Tim’s court…
I don’t doubt that there are 400,000 Americans seeking employment. I doubt that there are that many qualified workers in any one location—or willing to relocate to that location for a seasonal job—no matter the pay. As a recent MDN post explained, there is no way to automate assembly at the volumes required. Building 250MM iPhones a year requires people. Lots of people. Foxconn has four plants in China with 100,000 to 400,000 workers each. There are no American cities with the infrastructure to handle that many seasonal workers.
President Trump can get it done. I know you don’t believe that, tough…
“Tired of Timmy’s Endless Sanctimony”. White supremacist bullying claptrap. You mindlessly root for a president who is a poor excuse for a human being, under whose watch 110,000 Americans have died, 40,000 unemployed and quickly descending into chaos.
This strategy could eliminate racism and descriminate in some extent but not all. Send White back to Europe. Send Asians back to Asia. Send black back to Africa. Then we will live in a wonderland.
American cities burn because a drug addict counterfeiter with a severe heart condition couldn’t withstand typical restraint that the MINNEAPOLIS POLICE HANDBOOK expressly advises to perform for 9 measly minutes.
BTW: Let those cities, and their polling places, burn until they’re gone.
The manual does not say to apply a neck hold to someone who is already restrained, or to continue applying the hold for almost three minutes after the subject is unconscious, or to make sure by continuing for a minute after he has no pulse. If it did, it would be about as effective a legal defense as the chapter on Zyklon-B in the Nazi Guard’s Manual.
I somehow doubt that Minnesota law lists the death penalty as within the range of punishment for suspicion of passing a bogus $20 bill. I bet that it does provide that causing a human death is homicide, even if there are medical factors that contributed to the death.
Tim Cook, Steve’s worst mistake
TC: “We see it in our criminal justice system, in the disproportionate toll of disease on Black and Brown communities”
Tim, since when did disease turn racist and target “Black and Brown communities” disproportionately when disease threatens every community, everywhere in the world. Attention needs to be
paid to find a solution.
TC: “but it is similarly true that communities of color continue to endure discrimination and trauma.”
It is very sad these communities are not vibrant today after 50 years of The Great Society spending trillions of dollars and little has changed. Mostly located in Blue cities/states their leaders have failed them repeatedly while enriching themselves. Certainly it is time to “Think Different” and give serious consideration to the other side. Under President Trump’s leadership, communities of color have achieved record employment numbers and many out of poverty have found dignity.
TC: “I have heard from so many that you feel afraid — afraid in your communities, afraid in your daily lives, and, most cruelly of all, afraid in your own skin.”
No one in the USA should feel afraid “in their own skin.” Unacceptable! This is the land of the free and home of the brave and everyone is EQUAL.
TC: “But we must do more. We commit to continuing our work to bring critical resources and technology to underserved school systems.”
Apple discontinued the eMac years ago designed specifically as a low cost high end computer for the education market. They need to do more than lip service and high prices. Certainly they have the profits, talent and vast resources to get it done.
TC: “We commit to continuing to fight the forces of environmental injustice — like climate change — which disproportionately harm Black communities and other communities of color.”
Climate change does not discriminate and sorry to say the most ridiculous and false statement in Tim’s letter pandering to the left. Sad.
TC: “And we’re donating to organizations including the Equal Justice Initiative, which challenge racial injustice and mass incarceration.”
Incarceration is based on crimes committed and found guilty in a court of law. Certainly it should be fair and balanced and not disproportionately applied to any race.
TC: “To the Black community — we see you. You matter and your lives matter.”
Certainly black lives and ALL lives matter.
TC: “George Floyd’s death is shocking and tragic proof that we must aim far higher than a “normal” future, and build one that lives up to the highest ideals of equality and justice.”
Agreed. God bless George Floyd and his family.
TC: “In the words of Martin Luther King, “Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.”
“And in 1958, he noted: “I don’t think the Republican party is a party full of the almighty God nor is the Democratic party. They both have weaknesses. And I’m not inextricably bound to either party.”
— FactCheck.org
MLK was true to his words.
TC: “With every breath we take, we must commit to being that change, and to creating a better, more just world for everyone.”
Drama aside, certainly all citizens do more to work towards POSITIVE CHANGE. We are all children of God and deserve equal respect and treatment. The solution has eluded us for centuries and it will take more than lofty words and trillions of dollars to get it done…
Hey, MDN, if you’re going to quote MLK on riots, it is wrong to cherry-pick a single quote. He clearly did not believe in rioting himself, but he refused to blame the rioters.
“And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”
Get it? MLK was very clear that those to blame for riots were those who allowed the oppressive conditions that led to riots to persist. Avoiding riots is the job of society by providing justice – THAT is what will stop riots.
Read more about MLK’s overall position on riots in this article, full of many quotes by MLK about riots, about justice, and about power.
https://time.com/3838515/baltimore-riots-language-unheard-quote/
This is Apple, Tim Cock represents. He should stay out of politics as Steve did. If he wants to support George Floyd, he should do so as Tim Cook, but should keep the accusations out of his commentary, as the head of Apple. THAT is his responsibility to the company. Be neutral for them.
This issue is complicated, and many smarter than me are floundering. Stay out of it and make Apple products, that’s my advice.
I’m not sure where the crazy idea comes from that Steve Jobs was not political. Yes, he said that he and the company should stay out of party politics, and they did and still do. It is no accident that Tim Cook has the closest relationship with President Trump of any major executive in America.
However, Jobs began Apple with the mission statement to improve society through technology. He saw that as an inherently progressive agenda and that was reflected in corporate policy. Apple was among the first large companies to make workforce diversity in race, national origin, gender, and sexual orientation a central element of its corporate culture. It has always pushed public policies that would reflect its company policies. That is inherently political and it is an inseparable part of the Steve Jobs legacy.