Tag: asian

Twitter: White, male and Asian

Succumbing to growing public pressure, Twitter released the gender and ethnic breakdown of its work force Wednesday, showing that it looks like most other major technology companies: overwhelming male, white and Asian.

In the U.S., nearly 90% of Twitter’s workers are white or Asian. And more than 90% of technology jobs in the U.S. are held by whites or Asians.

Men make up 70% of all staff but 90% of technology staff, according to figures released by the company’s vice president for diversity and inclusion, Janet Van Huysse.

Twitter pledged to take steps to diversify its staff.

“We want to be more than a good business; we want to be a business that we are proud of,” Huysse said.

Diversity has become a hotly debated issue as some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies have begun revealing the makeup of their work forces.

These companies say they are intent on diversifying their ranks to stay in touch and in tune with their customers around the world.

Over the past two months, Yahoo, Google, Facebook and LinkedIn have reported that their staffs are between 62% and 70% male. Whites and Asians make up between 88% and 91%.

Britain’s Prince Harry meanwhile has spoken of his hatred for Twitter due to its role in the “invasion of his privacy”, according to media report.

Harry was speaking to students at a seperate event promoting a Paralympics-style multi-sports event for British service personnel wounded in Iraq.

The dull prince, fourth in line to the throne, belongs to a class of people who live it up on taxpayers money while promoting racial mixing and “diversity” for the rest of humanity but not themselves.

“I really quite hate Twitter (due to) the invasion of privacy. I think you all know what I’m talking about.”

Harry, who proudly took part in the invasion and destruction of Iraq, was later pictured frolicking naked with hired entertainment at a party in Las Vegas.

Aussie woman gets arrested for calling Asian a ‘gook’ on Sydney train

Police say a woman’s apology for a tirade of racist abuse towards Sydney train passengers is not enough, and she may face prosecution.

The woman was arrested on Thursday night and was being questioned at a central coast police station.

A video posted on YouTube emerged on Thursday morning showing a middle-aged woman abusing a man and a woman whom she calls “Asian” on a train heading north on the Newcastle and Central Coast line.

In the video she identifies herself as Sue Wilkins.

“He can’t even get a regular girlfriend, he’s got to get a gook,” Wilkins says to the man.

When the woman tries to defend herself, Wilkins makes fun of her accent before saying: “What’s wrong with Hong Kong? Why did you come to Australia?”

Wilkins told Ninemsn that she regretted the verbal attack and she was embarrassed by her behaviour.

“It’s not nice what I did to that lady,” Wilkins told Ninemsn.

“It wasn’t nice to say that to her because it’s not nice when people say that to me … call me white trash and fatso. I know how it hurts and I shouldn’t be saying it to other people.”

But NSW police assistant commissioner Max Mitchell told reporters on Thursday afternoon that police still wanted to speak with Wilkins and she should come forward.

“From a policing perspective we will thoroughly investigate this matter and the person responsible will be prosecuted,” he said.

Police had spoken to Wilkins when she got off the train at Strathfield after the incident at about 4pm on Wednesday afternoon, but at the time were not aware of the full details.

He said he did not know why police had spoken to her, but they ultimately let her continue her journey.

“Police patrolling from the local area command said they were there for another matter and were unaware of the full circumstances of this matter,” he said.

He said police had not spoken to Wilkins since.

In the video, Wilkins appears to be on the phone to police when she gives her name, apparently reporting the children who refused to give up their seat for her.

Mitchell said she could be charged with offensive behaviour, which carries a $500 fine.

“But also magistrates have the opportunity of taking into consideration the racially motivated context of this matter,” he said, which means the offence could carry a harsher penalty.

He urged witnesses to the incident to come forward.

The chief executive of Sydney Trains, Howard Collins, said after 36 years of running London’s train system, he had never seen “such [racist] behaviour like I’ve seen here”. – The Guardian (extract)

Racial goals for maths and reading

The Florida State Board of Education passed a plan that sets goals for students in math and reading based upon their race.

On Tuesday, the board passed a revised strategic plan that says that by 2018, it wants 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of black students to be reading at or above grade level. For math, the goals are 92 percent of Asian kids to be proficient, whites at 86 percent, Hispanics at 80 percent and blacks at 74 percent. It also measures by other groupings, such as poverty and disabilities, reported the Palm Beach Post.

The plan has infuriated many community activists in Palm Beach County and across the state.

“To expect less from one demographic and more from another is just a little off-base,” Juan Lopez, magnet coordinator at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Riviera Beach, told the Palm Beach Post.

JFK Middle has a black student population of about 88 percent.

“Our kids, although they come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, they still have the ability to learn,” Lopez said. “To dumb down the expectations for one group, that seems a little unfair.”

Others in the community agreed with Lopez’s assessment. But the Florida Department of Education said the goals recognize that not every group is starting from the same point and are meant to be ambitious but realistic.

As an example, the percentage of white students scoring at or above grade level (as measured by whether they scored a 3 or higher on the reading FCAT) was 69 percent in 2011-2012, according to the state. For black students, it was 38 percent, and for Hispanics, it was 53 percent.

In addition, State Board of Education Chairwoman Kathleen Shanahan said that setting goals for different subgroups was needed to comply with terms of a waiver that Florida and 32 other states have from some provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. These waivers were used to make the states independent from some federal regulations.

“We have set a very high goal for all students to reach in Florida,” Shanahan said.

But Palm Beach County School Board vice-chairwoman Debra Robinson isn’t buying the rationale.

“I’m somewhere between complete and utter disgust and anger and disappointment with humanity,” Robinson told the Post. She said she has been receiving complaints from upset black and Hispanic parents since the state board took its action this week.

Robinson called the state board’s actions essentially “proclaiming racism” and said she wants Palm Beach County to continue to educate every child with the same expectations, regardless of race. – CBS