Today, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – led by Chairman L. Cedric Richmond (D-LA-02), and Congressional Black Caucus Diversity Task Force Co-Chairs, Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) and G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-01) – issued the following joint statement in response to a new report prepared for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which reveals Russia targeted African American voters in attempts to suppress the vote in the 2016 election: “During the 2016 presidential election cy...
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Today, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – led by Chairman L. Cedric Richmond (D-LA-02), and Congressional Black Caucus Diversity Task Force Co-Chairs,Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) and G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-01) – issued the following joint statement in response to a new report prepared for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which reveals Russia targeted African American voters in attempts to suppress the vote in the 2016 election: “During the 2016 presidential election cyc...
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Today, in a letter to Amazon president and CEO Jeffrey Bezos and prominent tech trade associations, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) expressed privacy and racial bias concerns about Rekognition, facial recognition technology that the company is marketing and selling to law enforcement agencies. In regard to privacy, the CBC expressed concerns that some law enforcement agencies will use the technology to surveil law-abiding citizens. In regard to racial bias, the CBC expressed concerns that t...
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Members of the Congressional Black Caucus Diversity Task Force will travel to Silicon Valley next week to announce principles for building an inclusive tech economy where economic growth is broad-based and Black employees can thrive at all levels of the industry. This is the members’ third congressional delegation trip to Silicon Valley since the CBC TECH 2020 diversity initiative was launched in May 2015. In October 2017, members met with tech executives, Black employees, and nonprofit organiza...
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The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) - led by Chairman Cedric L. Richmond (D-LA), and Representatives G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Bobby Scott (D-VA) – today issued the following statements after the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, entitled “Diversity in the Technology Sector: Federal Agencies Could Improve Oversight of Equal Employment Opportunity Requirements.” In the report, GAO found that “no growth occurred for female and Black workers” over...
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WASHINGTON - Today, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – led by Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-LA), and Representatives G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) – sent a letter to Uber, calling on the ride-share service company and other technology companies to prioritize diversity when filling senior leadership positions. “When the Congressional Black Caucus Diversity Task Force launched CBC TECH 2020 in May 2015, we cautioned leaders in the tech community that it...
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Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) and Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13) call upon ride-share service companies, Uber and Lyft, to address reports of racial discrimination following a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). “We are concerned with findings from the NBER study that show evidence of discrimination against African American riders attempting to use ride-share services such as Uber and Lyft as a means of transportation,” said Cha...
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Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are pressing Facebook to change an advertising feature that allows advertisers to exclude certain racial groups. “We are writing to express our deep concerns with reports that Facebook’s 'Ethnic Affinities' advertising customization feature allows for advertisers to exclude specific racial and ethnic groups when placing housing advertisements,” they wrote in a letter to Facebook on Tuesday. “This is in direct violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, an...
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The Congressional Black Caucus has called on Facebook to stop allowing advertisers to exclude racial and ethnic groups when placing housing ads in what lawmakers say is a violation of federal anti-discrimination housing laws. "We are writing to express our deep concerns with reports that Facebook’s 'Ethnic Affinities' advertising customization feature allows for advertisers to exclude specific racial and ethnic groups when placing housing advertisements," members of the caucus wrote in a letter ...
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Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), and Congresswoman Robin Kelly (IL-02) condemn Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for its use of “Ethnic Affinities” advertising that allows users to exclude groups based on race and ethnicity in clear violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. “We have witnessed exclusion and discriminatory practices among popular social media platforms once before," said Chairman Butterfield. “Racism and discrimination in any form should never be tol...
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