On Zoom Thursday afternoon, Johnathan Henry, a VP at a large tech company that is known for selling user data, and is personally responsible for multiple genocides worldwide, took a moment to acknowledge the Ohlone people as the rightful stewards of the land before diving into his presentation about buying companies that have gone bankrupt in the midst of the pandemic as a strategy to not pay taxes.
“What a brave thing to do,” said Melissa Francis, Global Lead on Brand Collaborations, “a really important way to show our liberal values as a company.”
This silicon valley tech company has made this a new initiative company-wide. In an email to employees from the CEO, with the subject line “Columbus Day and You,” he said, “it’s important that we acknowledge the land that we monopolize and exploit the data of our users on. Only then can we celebrate all people on Indigenous Peoples’ Day”
The email states that meetings of more than six people are required to have a land acknowledgement, especially when the meeting involves people outside of the company. HornRimmer has reached out to many sources and can confirm that no Indigenous people were consulted on this change, and the tech company has no plans to compensate or support Indigenous communities.
HornRimmer 