As if my termination couldn’t get any worse… Google decided after firing me that the best way to send a message to the world that they value diversity was to BACK FILL MY ROLE WITH A WHITE WOMAN.

The optics of it all are shameful honey.

With very limited time and energy, let me say this…To the HBCU Presidents who will meet with Google CEO, Sundar, tomorrow.. Let me give you some insight into what Google thinks about OUR kids…

In 2014 when I started, the very first thing Google gave me was their “Project Bison Proposal”, which explained in no uncertain terms how they assessed talent at HBCUs. The following quotes are directly parsed from this document..

Google’s stance was that “our interview feedback case studies and curricula analysis demonstrate that current HBCU CS Departments are not graduating strong technical talent. HBCU CS students struggle with the most basic of coding, algorithms and data structures.”

“The first step is to help Howard students meet the Google bar -- it’s also the right thing to do for the future of diversity in technology. With this huge percentage of the pool currently not hirable, we need to look at ways to impact change in the HBCU system.”

“Banned interview questions and feedback, as asked through mock interviews at Howard University by Google Software Engineers. Howard CS students severely struggled with basic coding, algorithms and data structures.”

“We interviewed CandidateA, a graduating CS Senior, in May 2013. CandidateA was a faculty referral and allegedly one of the best CS students at Howard. Interview score of 1.1;"

"Strong No Move Forward. Couldn't handle basic algorithms. Couldn't handle working with java collections beyond absolute surface level. Does not understand code in any depth."

TO BE CLEAR THESE ARE THE WORDS OF GOOGLE. The time I spent recruiting at HBCUs says otherwise by the way. The kids at Howard and every other school I worked with are simply BRILLIANT. Period.

There are over 60 HBCUs with Computer Science programs across the country and more than a third of all black grads with a degree in CS come from HBCUs.
So with this context, please be sure to ask Sundar the following questions:

How much money was spent on direct HBCU outreach versus outreach at Stanford, MIT, CMU, Georgia Tech, etc over the last 6 years (not including GIR)?

How many HBCU students have been hired into tech roles over the last 6 years? (BTW any data that will be shared about HBCU hires, is because of my work!!!)

How many HBCU students have been RETAINED in those roles? How are HBCU students being protected and embraced once at Google?

When will Google commit to partnering with every HBCU that has a CS degree program? What will that partnership look like, particularly budget-wise?

And finally, how is Google ensuring that HBCU outreach is a priority when not even a single HBCU recruiter/specialist is Black?

To my HBCU family (students, faculty, admin) please hit me up if you want more guidance for these kinds of conversations. Ultimately, Google has a responsibility to ALL HBCUs.

Tell-all coming soon.

Bloop.