Elon Musk calls US media and colleges ‘racist in opposition to whites & Asians’

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter, has accused “the media,” and “elite schools and excessive colleges” of being “racist” in opposition to white and Asian folks, espousing his views with out offering proof on Sunday.

Musk posted his feedback on Twitter, the place he boasts almost 130 million followers, in response to information that media organizations across the nation determined to chop the cartoon “Dilbert” from syndication after its creator, Scott Adams, delivered a racist tirade in a video on his YouTube channel final week.

Within the video, Adams mentioned a ballot carried out by right-leaning Rasmussen Reviews that mentioned 26% of Black respondents disagreed with the assertion “It is OK to be white.” The phrase referenced of their ballot has been labeled a “hate slogan” by the Anti-Defamation League. In his video, Adams known as Black individuals who rejected that phrase as a “hate group.”

Adams additionally mentioned that he personally selected to dwell in a group the place few or no Black folks lived, after which suggested his white viewers to “get the hell away from Black folks,” saying he did not “wish to have something to do with them.”

Adams’ video was revealed throughout Black Historical past month within the US, which was established in 1976 by President Gerald Ford as a interval throughout which to honor the struggles and contributions of Black Individuals.

Among the many information shops that dropped “Dilbert” had been The Los Angeles Instances, The Oregonian, The Cleveland Plain Vendor, the Washington Put up and USA Right now.

Brian Levin, a civil rights legal professional and director of the Middle for the Research of Hate and Extremism at California State College mentioned, in response to Musk’s tweets:

“Systemic racism requires not solely widespread bigotry to be held inside a bunch but in addition a structural part that enables discrimination and oppression to be imposed on a minority due to a bonus of entry and energy. A white billionaire from South Africa who just lately misplaced a excessive profile racial discrimination case might not be in the perfect place to supply counsel.”

As CNBC beforehand reported, a San Francisco federal court docket dominated that Tesla should pay a former employee, Owen Diaz, for damages after he endured a hostile work surroundings and racist abuse on the firm’s manufacturing unit the place he beforehand labored as an elevator operator.

Additionally, the EEOC, a federal company answerable for implementing civil rights legal guidelines in opposition to office discrimination, has issued a trigger discovering in opposition to Tesla in keeping with a financial filing from the corporate final yr.

Previous to the EEOC discovering, the California Civil Rights Division (previously generally known as the Division of Truthful Employment and Housing) sued Tesla after a 3 yr investigation, alleging widespread racist discrimination at Tesla factories and amenities throughout the state.

The CRD alleged that Tesla has saved Black staff in lower-level roles on the firm even after they have the abilities and expertise to be promoted to extra senior roles; assigned Black staff extra demanding, harmful and soiled work of their amenities; and retaliated in opposition to Black staff who complained formally about what they endured, together with racist slurs utilized by managers.

Tesla known as the CRD’s lawsuit “misguided,” and later counter-sued the agency.

Musk made his claims about “the media” and a few larger instructional establishments and excessive colleges within the US with out presenting any proof.

Particularly, he wrote, “The media is racist.” He then added, “For a *very* very long time, US media was racist in opposition to non-white folks, now they’re racist in opposition to whites & Asians. Identical factor occurred with elite schools & excessive colleges in America. Possibly they will attempt not being racist.” 

In keeping with Pew Analysis, newsroom employees are more likely to be white (and male) than U.S. staff total. In movie and TV, in keeping with McKinsey analysis, “Black expertise is underrepresented throughout the business, significantly off-screen.” Lower than 6% of the writers, administrators, and producers of US-produced movies are Black, McKinsey discovered.

In keeping with the newest obtainable US Census Bureau data, about 29% of non-Hispanic white folks within the US have attained a bachelor’s diploma or larger ranges of training, about 18.4% of Black folks within the US have attained that stage of training, and about 51.3% of Asian folks have attained that stage of training.

Regardless of Asian American instructional attainment, Asians are underrepresented in management roles in U.S. educational libraries and better training, in keeping with analysis by Mihoko Hosoi, revealed within the Journal of Library Administration in 2022.

Musk additionally replied to at least one Twitter account that mentioned unarmed white folks impacted by police violence solely get a fraction of the media consideration paid to Black folks injured or killed by police. Musk claimed that the media protection is “Very disproportionate to advertise a false narrative.”

In keeping with analysis by Brookings Institute, “Black persons are 3.5 instances extra possible than white folks to be killed by police when Blacks will not be attacking or do not need a weapon,” and “Black youngsters are 21 instances extra possible than white youngsters to be killed by police.”

Imran Ahmed, the CEO and founding father of the Middle for Countering Digital Hate mentioned in response to Musk’s tweets, “Elon Musk seeks to painting himself as some bizarre, bizarro champion of anti-racism whereas in actuality when he took over Twitter, he made a sequence of disturbing decisions to vary its guidelines to welcome racist hate again onto the platform and, as our analysis has proven, to revenue from the controversy and a focus hate generates.”

Ahmed additionally known as on remaining advertisers to re-evaluate whether or not they wish to spend their budgets on Twitter, given Musk’s beliefs and adjustments he has made to the Twitter platform.

Since main a $44 billion leveraged buyout of Twitter late final yr, and appointing himself “Chief Twit” or CEO, Musk has stirred controversy and misplaced cash on the social media enterprise.

Beneath Musk’s watch, Twitter has restored the accounts of some beforehand banned and divisive figures, together with neo-Nazi web site founder Andrew Anglin. His strikes led to an unprecedented rise in hate speech on the platform, the Middle discovered, and drew a right away outcry from civil rights leaders.

A whole bunch of Twitter’s high advertisers have since halted or pulled again on advert spending there. One agency estimated that Twitter’s advert income declined as a lot as 70% in December from the earlier yr, Reuters reported. Musk acknowledged in a November tweet that the company suffered a “massive drop in revenue” after advertisers paused spending on the social media platform.

Musk and representatives at Twitter, SpaceX, and Tesla didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.