Sundar Pichai, CEO at Google, slams the recent intolerant discourse of one presidential candidate with a short entry on Medium, where he underlines the importance of tolerance.
After the blazing discourse of Donald Trump asking for Muslims to be barred from entering the United States, a storm of religion-based hate escalated in the American media.
Sundar Pichai is one of the people who oppose Trump's stance by giving his own example and that of his company. An Indian immigrant, Pichai leads one of the biggest global tech companies, which constantly recruits experts from all over the world.
He points out that acceptance and open-mindedness are foundation stones of the American nation.
"The open-mindedness, tolerance, and acceptance of new Americans is one of the country's greatest strengths and most defining characteristics," Pichai says. He adds that the overused phrase "land of opportunity" is in fact a reality, as millions of immigrants in the U.S. find possibilities that were unavailable elsewhere.
He further notes that it is dismaying to observe how the intolerant discourse permeates the open society of the "Land of the Free," harming those who belong to a different religion.
Pichai is not the only Silicon Valley executive who expresses concern and raises his voice against blunt-minded intolerance. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO at Facebook, announced that the social media platform he founded will "fight to protect" Muslim rights.
In his short essay, Pichai describes the Google campus as a place where "a vibrant mix of races and cultures" work together and each contributes his story to the bigger picture. However, he also subtly notes that Google has a long way to go before minorities will be properly represented in its ranks.
"We are urgently working to become much more diverse, because it's so important to our future success," Pichai stated.
The Silicon Valley executives are directly interested in bringing the global crème of the crop into their organizations, a plan which conflicts with the anti-immigration policies of some potential future leaders like Trump.
Pichai ends his message by mentioning that he pondered long before posting it, but he ultimately concluded that those who are still safe from attack should speak out.
"Let's not let fear defeat our values," Pichai wrote.
