East Bay Congresswoman Barbara Lee spoke with KRON4’s Catherine Heenan Friday about diversity in the tech industry, sanctuary cities and her ongoing fight to repeal authorization for the use of military force.
Lee says she’s been dealing with concerns over diversity in Silicon Valley since the 90’s.
She says Silicon Valley has not been making nearly enough progress in hiring African Americans for jobs in the tech industry.
“Some are doing better than others,” Lee said. “But for the most part, it’s dismal.”
She’s now suggesting there could be new regulations to ‘require’ ways to improve the situation.
“We’re talking about regulation now. We’re talking about a hammer,” Lee said. “Because we’ve tried for years and years to make sure that they voluntarily saw that inclusion and racial equity was not necessarily their moral obligation but it’s also part of their growth. If they don’t really care about diversity in general – their economic growth is dependent on people of color. So they’ve got to do better and we’re going to keep working with them.”
Lee is also standing firm in her defense of sanctuary cities.
She continues to condemn recent raids by federal authorities on suspected undocumented immigrants in her district.
“We have laws that address criminal activity,” Lee said. “So what the heck does it mean if you’re an immigrant or not if you’re committing crimes.”
Lee believes immigrants should be treated the same as everyone else under the criminal justice system.
“We have strong criminal justice and public safety laws,” Lee said. “So everyone should be accountable. So I can’t understand why you’d single out criminals from one category versus another.”
Lee says she knows people in her district that are very fearful and young people are anxious.
“We don’t know when ICE is going to raid. It’s a terrible operation that’s taking place.”
The Congresswoman also talked about her ongoing fight to repeal authorization for the use of military force.
Lee says a measure that was passed after 9-11 has since been exploited dozens of times.
Watch the video above to hear the Congresswoman’s full interview