UNLIKE

‘Facebook Has a Black People Problem’: Former Employee

“Black staffers at Facebook know that by raising our voices we risk jeopardizing our professional relationships and our career advancement.”

A former Facebook employee sent a company-wide memo shortly before leaving his position that details why he believes Facebook “has a black people problem.” Mark S. Luckie, who previously held the title of strategic partner manager for global influencers focused on underrepresented voices at Facebook, alleges that racism is alive and well on the company’s virtual platform and at its many campus headquarters. “Facebook’s disenfranchisement of black people on the platform mirrors the marginalization of its black employees,” Luckie wrote in his now public memo that he shared via Facebook. According to Luckie, black employees are frequently discouraged from bringing up issues related to race, and were often dissuaded by managers from joining internal groups for black employees. He recounts stories from black colleagues of being “aggressively accosted” by campus security, and says non-black colleagues often clutched their wallets when walking past him. “To feel like an oddity at your own place of employment because of the color of your skin while passing posters reminding you to be your authentic self feels in itself inauthentic.” Luckie wrote.

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