No, it’s not good news. Apple remains PC to its rotten core. The reason the company elected to ditch Denise Young Smith after six months on the job as vice president of diversity and inclusion was that she spoke truth to power.
At a One Young World Summit in Bogotá, Colombia, last month, Smith dared to say this, according to the New York Post:
There can be 12 white, blue-eyed, blond men in a room and they’re going to be diverse too because they’re going to bring a different life experience and life perspective to the conversation.
Diversity is the human experience. I get a little bit frustrated when diversity or the term diversity is tagged to the people of color, or the women, or the LGBT.
Smith is to be applauded for baring her soul on this emotionally charged topic, though she loses some credit for having wimped out after receiving her pink slip. In an apologetic email to her staff, she lied, writing that the views she had expressed “were not representative of how I think about diversity or how Apple sees it,” adding:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
For that, I’m sorry. More importantly, I want to assure you Apple’s view and our dedication to diversity has not changed.
Apple released a statement of its own that read in part:
We deeply believe that diversity drives innovation. We’re thrilled to welcome an accomplished leader like Christie Smith to help us continue the progress we’ve made toward a more diverse workplace.
Smith, who will replace Smith(!) as diversity and inclusion chief, is blond and blue-eyed. If one didn’t know better, one might assume that Apple is having fun at its customers’ expense.
