Tesla pays for its anti-black racism

A recent article by NPR announced that Tesla must pay $137 million to a former employee that sued because of racial discrimination. An e-mail released by the company in 2017 that Elon Musk sent to employees in response to racial discrimination appeared to make the victim, the victimizer. There were multiple black employee complaints, and it should not be any surprise the jury decided to make Tesla pay for its anti-black racism. The e-mail shows that most leaders of corporations, who are mostly white, have no clue or desire to deal with racial issues, especially in Silicon Valley.

Each of us knows the casual often misguided approach and cuddling of those who participate in anti-black mistreatment on the job. It is often subtle and coded, but in certain environments, more blatant. I recall a story where a black employee was called the N-word at a company outing by another employee. The altercation was seen by multiple employees, including the corporate attorney. The perpetrator was a top revenue generator at the company and leadership tried to figure out a way not to fire the employee.

First, they tried to have the two employees meet and discuss it. Of course, seeing if the black employee would forgive and try to move past it. When this did not work, they continued to slow play it and probably received counsel on the matter. It took almost three weeks since the event happened before the company fired the employee. It happened over the weekend and the matter should have been investigated and handled by the middle of the following week. The reason for this stalling is because generally there has been no punishment for playing games with race. The Tesla award says loud and clear that if you play with this, you will pay.

Elon Musk was born in South Africa and his family benefited from a racist regime. You would think he understands the need to nip these things in the bud, right? Wrong. Not much has changed since the old days. The same people who talk about their ancestor’s past actions in disgust, will, given the chance, participate in the same type of mistreatment today. Let’s look at the so-called PayPal mafia, a group of former employees and founders who have gone on to create companies like Yammer and Palantir Technologies. Their leadership at these companies is mostly white and they too would have issues in dealing with racial problems. Also, a few of them have questionable political views and personal affiliations with suspected white supremacists.

The collective efforts by the good guys will be a determinant if we see this become a continued mechanism for punishment to corporations who practice anti-black hatred. These are companies that benefit from black consumers here in the US and increasingly across the globe, especially in Africa. It is also why we must understand the power of our economy and continue to agitate for what’s in our best interest.