Jesse Jackson called out Facebook and Amazon “allies” on Tuesday for their lack of diversity in the board room.
The Rainbow PUSH coalition’s founder spoke to a crowd at southern France’s famous advertising summit, Cannes Lions, on Tuesday. The activist had an overall positive message regarding attendees’ ability to “change the world,” but he did not shy away from lecturing Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
“For too long Hollywood has stereotyped people in ways that have either damaged the culture or been indifferent to change,” Mr. Jackson said, THR reported Tuesday. “Hollywood must open up and tell the truth and be inclusive to who can bring films. It needs to tell more positive, ’Schindler’s List’-type stories with a broader base.”
CEOs Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg also had their companies taken to task.
“Amazon does not have a person of color on their board. Facebook does not have a person of color on their board — and these are our allies,” Mr. Jackson said. “There have to be opportunities there [and] they have to see it as value added. It’s not a zero sum game.”
Mr. Jackson credited advertisers for cultural changes over the decades, but said industry power-players still needed to “step up.”
“Many of you are constrained by what you can’t see, what you haven’t been exposed to, what you don’t know exists,” the civil rights activist said, the U.K. Guardian reported. “What you haven’t imagined, as John Lennon might say. We’re all in danger of living in racial and ethnic silos, surrounded by people who look and think like us, which means we’re blind to other cultures.”
The 2017 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity opened its doors June 17 and runs through June 24.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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