Celebrities

Mark Zuckerberg Condemns Facebook Staff For Defacing Black Lives Matter Slogans

posted on Feb 26, 2016 at 10:58 am
Peter Gregory
QuizDestiny News Reporter

The Black Lives Matter movement has shed light on the racial profiling, police brutality, and racial inequality experienced by the African-American community across America. But apparently some of the employees at Facebook’s notoriously white, bro-centric Menlo Park, California office don’t agree.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has warned his employees over a “deeply hurtful” incident in which Black Lives Matter slogans were defaced. 

In a private memo posted on a company announcement page for employees only, Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that employees have been scratching out “black lives matter” (sic) and writing “all lives matter” on the company’s famous signature wall. The company, whose staff is only 2 percent black, is facing the issue head on.

“We’ve never had rules around what people can write on our walls,” said Zuckerberg in the post. “We expect everybody to treat each other with respect.”

“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,” Zuckerberg said. “I was already very disappointed by this disrespectful behavior before, but after my communication I now consider this malicious as well.”

Facebook has faced criticism in the past for the lack of diversity in its workforce, which is predominantly white and male. A company census from June 2015 revealed that only 2 percent of staff is black, compared to 55 percent white, 36 percent Asian and 3 percent Hispanic.

Maxine Williams, Facebook’s global director of diversity, said at the time: “It’s clear to all of us that we still aren’t where we want to be. There’s more work to do.”

“There are specific issues affecting the black community in the United States, coming from a history of oppression and racism,” Zuckerberg said. “‘Black lives matter’ doesn’t mean other lives don’t—it’s simply asking that the black community also achieve the justice they deserve.

“This has been a deeply hurtful and tiresome experience for the black community and really the entire Facebook community, and we are now investigating the current incidents.”