Google chief executive officer Sundar Pichai is the latest tech executive to issue an open call for tolerance after Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
In a Medium post titled “Let’s not let fear defeat our values,” Pichai did not refer to Trump by name, but made a reference to the controversy, writing: “I feel we must speak out — particularly those of us who are not under attack. Everyone has the right to their views, but it’s also important that those who are less represented know that those are not the views of all.”
Pichai, who was named to the top position at Google in August, is himself an immigrant. Born in Madras (now called Chennai), India, he moved to the U.S. as an adult to go to school, an experience he recounted in his post:
“The open-mindedness, tolerance, and acceptance of new Americans is one of the country’s greatest strengths and most defining characteristics. And that is no coincidence — America, after all, was and is a country of immigrants.
That is why it’s so disheartening to see the intolerant discourse playing out in the news these days — statements that our country would be a better place without the voices, ideas and the contributions of certain groups of people, based solely on where they come from, or their religion.
I walk around the campus where I work and see a vibrant mix of races and cultures. Every one of those people has a different voice … a different perspective … a different story to tell. All of that makes our company an exciting and special place to be, and allows us to do great things together.”
Since Trump, who has spent much of his presidential campaign making incendiary comments about different minority groups, called for ban on Muslims, an increasingly loud chorus of voices from industry leaders, politicians, and celebrities have spoken out against his views. In tech, these include Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, hacker collective Anonymous, and Amazon founder/Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who would like to launch Trump into space.
