Media Contacts: Don Terry
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312-608-2514
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APPLE VP PRAISES REV. JESSE JACKSON AND RAINBOW PUSH FOR WORK ON
DIVERSITY
CHICAGO, June 29 – The 45th annual Rainbow PUSH Coalition international convention came to
a close today with Apple Vice President, Lisa P. Jackson, delivering a speech – from her iPad, of
course – to hundreds of business men and women on the importance of diversity in the global
economy of the 21st Century.
Apple, Ms. Jackson said, “is laser-focused” on diversity. Not just because “it is the right thing to
do” but because “we need the bright minds and perspectives that diversity, true diversity, and
inclusion bring around the world.”
A chemical engineer, Ms. Jackson is the former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
in the Obama Administration, and is now Apple’s Vice President for Environment, Policy and
Social Initiatives. “I didn’t give up on public service when I left the government,” she said.
Ms. Jackson, no relation to Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, founder and president of Rainbow PUSH, was
the keynote speaker at the convention’s Business Luncheon at the Hyatt Regency McCormick
Place in Chicago. She praised Rev. Jackson for his efforts to diversify the ranks of Silicon Valley –
from the security booth to the C-suite.
“We welcome and listen to everything Rev. Jackson has to say in this space,” she said, adding,
“Rainbow PUSH has forged top rated opportunities for people of color and continue to make
tremendous investments in the future of our nation’s young people, helping to expose them to
possibilities and prepare them for fields where the odds are often skewed against them.
“Nowhere,” Ms. Jackson continued, “is that more important than where I work now in Silicon
Valley, the heart of technology in the United States.”
She said that the tech industry “does not reflect the diversity of our own country” and the industry
is risking missing out “on a world of possibilities.”
“We are a global company,” she said, “and we can’t afford to take that risk.”
Rev. Jackson said Apple is a diversity leader in Silicon Valley, with two African American women
in powerful positions – Ms. Jackson and Denise Young Smith, who heads Apple’s Human
Resources Department. Apple has also included minority-owned financial services firms in multibillion dollar debt offerings and has pledged $100 million in teacher training, iPads and computers
for 114 schools across the country.
The Business Luncheon was the last event of a busy five days of speeches, banquets and panels.
Topics included health care, education, criminal justice, the automotive industry and investment
opportunities in Africa. Representatives from 20 African nations attended the conference.
A gospel concert and a reunion bar-b-que kicked off the convention at Rainbow PUSH
headquarters as the organization commemorated its roots in the civil rights movement of the
1960’s. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s, appointment of Rev.
Jackson to lead Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
On Monday, June 27, Secretary Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic Party presidential
nominee, addressed more than 1,000 people as the keynote speaker at the convention’s Women’s
Luncheon.
“Today’s challenges,” Ms. Jackson, the Apple VP, said, “can only be solved when the best and the
brightest minds are at the table. Rainbow PUSH understands this and has been a leader, tackling
challenges, speaking truth to power, fighting for change for the underrepresented.”
Or as Rev. Jackson likes to put it, “We have never stopped doing Dr. King’s work.”
-30Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-issue, progressive, international organization that was formed in December 1996 by the
Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. through merging of two organizations he founded Operation PUSH People United to Serve Humanity (estab.
1971) and the Rainbow Coalition (estab. 1984). With headquarters in Chicago and offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Los
Angeles, New York and Oakland, the organization works to make the American Dream a reality for all citizens while advocating for peace and
justice around the world. RPC is dedicated to improving the lives of all people by serving as a voice for the voiceless. Its mission is to protect,
defend and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields while promoting peace and justice around the world.
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Keep up with Rev. Jackson and the work of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition at www.rainbowpush.org.