Asked what message he’d like to send the technology industry, Jesse Williams leans back in his chair and pauses for a moment to reflect.
“Stop excluding black people,” he replies.
Williams, famous for his role as Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey’s Anatomy, isn’t one to pull punches. The actor, who raised his voice in Ferguson and Flint and who delivered a searing indictment of police brutality and racial oppression at the BET Awards, is unapologetic about using his star power to fight racial injustice. And these days, he’s training that activism on the world of apps and games.
“The con around this word diversity is that it’s an additive thing. It’s a burden. It’s a new thing that you have to add. You are already doing the action. The action is excluding us,” Williams, 36, told USA TODAY in an interview. “We all need chances, access and opportunity. So you can start there.”
Dressed all in black, Williams is relaxing at the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland, a 1920s lodge overlooking Lake Merritt, before headlining an event put on by the Kapor Center to honor people fighting for greater representation of people of color in the tech industry. At Facebook, 3% of employees are black. At Google, 2%.
For the full story, visit USAToday.com/Tech.
