Google’s CEO Had This to Say to Employees About Asian Hate Crimes

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai reacted to the recent Atlanta shootings that killed six Asian women by sending a consoling e-mail out to his company’s employees.

In the e-mail, Pichai offered full-time employees “time to process” as nearly half of them identify as Asian.

41.9% of Google’s full-time workforce is comprised of Asian-identifying employees, according to the company’s most recent representation data.

“I know the effects of the hateful violence reach way beyond Atlanta,” Pichai wrote in the company wide email. “The loss of these eight lives is tragic — and so is the reality that anybody would be targeted because of their race or gender as appears to be the case here and in so many other recent incidents.”

It was last week that eight people, including six Asian women, had been killed in a shooting spree in Georgia.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began last year, countries including the United States have seen violence and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islander communities.

A CSUSB study based on police department statistics across major US cities found a 150% surge in anti-Asian hate crimes last year.

Separate data from the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council showed over 2,800 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate between March and December of 2020.

In the note, Pichai remarks that Google leaders have checked in with the company’s site leads in the Atlanta area. He wrote, “The news is weighing heavily on all of us. Please reach out to your managers and teammates if you need support or some time to process.”

Pichai assured that the company stands with Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

It was this pat February that Pichai tweeted the hashtag #StopAsianHate and had said it was “important that we not let the violence against Asian & Pacific Islander communities fade from the headlines.”

The day after the shooting, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon also sent a letter to all 255,000 of his employees, condemning the increase in violence against the Asian and Pacific Island community.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.