Hundreds of Seattle-area business and technology leaders formed a coalition this week to push for racial equity at their companies and in city government.
The Washington Coalition of Businesses for Racial Justice sent a letter to Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Tuesday urging her to implement police reforms recommended by Seattle’s Community Police Commission.
The demands include opening up disciplinary hearings to the public and removing limitations, deadlines, and other barriers to investigating police misconduct. The group is also asking the city to implement reforms that curb the power of the Seattle Police Officers Guild.
“Mayor Durkan, you have a unique opportunity right now to bring the business community and broader community behind you by leading the action around police reform rather than reacting to it,” the letter says.
The coalition acknowledged that many activists are “calling for defunding the police altogether” and offered the reforms as an alternative that the police union “would be wise to take right now.”
The coalition was formed by Frances Dewing, CEO of the Seattle cybersecurity startup Rubica.
“Dozens of community organizations have done the hard work around racial justice and policing reform – the research, studies, crafting policy – and have been advocating for specific changes to Washington laws for years,” Dewing wrote in a letter to business leaders. “These are proven best practices. All we need to do is get the politicians to listen. And they listen to businesses.”
Several hundred business leaders have joined the coalition, according to Dewing. More than 80 signed the letter to Durkan, including the CEOs of Apptentive, Remitly, Amperity, Algorithmia, Glowforge, and other well known Seattle startups. It’s the latest show of support from the tech industry for activists who have been protesting police violence in cities across America for weeks.
Despite the rhetoric, the technology industry has been confounded by diversity challenges for decades — and has largely been unsuccessful at moving the needle. Less than 1% of employees at U.S. software companies are black, according to Labor Department statistics covering 2019. Black professionals held just 3.3% of all senior or executive leadership roles in the U.S. in 2018, and there are just four black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
