6 The Hampton Roads Messenger


Volume 7 Number 10 Duo Crash Silicon Valley's Party


June 2013


Lt. Governor Candidate Tries to Turn Convention Momentum Into Campaign Gold


BY CARTEN CORDELL ALEXANDRIA


— E.W. Jackson played every card in the deck to win the Republican lieutenant governor nomination last month in Richmond — a rousing speech, a dedicated base and charismatic appeal to undecided conservative delegates.


Now, BY SEMANY GASHAW SAN FRANCISCO -- In a


thriving Bay Area technology sector where black and brown faces are the exception and not the norm, Chris Cruz, a Filipino American, and Isaac Reed, an African American, are crashing the party.


“Stereotypes are one hell of a


drug,” says the 25-year-old Reed. Being judged on appearance by other industry professionals, he adds, is something he’s come to expect. “Until I open my mouth, [then] they understand I’m educated. But I don’t let it intimidate me. It actually empowers me.”


When it comes to California’s


technology sector, Cruz and Reed surely aren’t alone in feeling racially isolated.


A study conducted in 2011 by three California-based groups – the Black Economic Council, Latino Business Chamber of Greater Los Angeles, and the National Asian American Coalition – looked at workforce diversity at a dozen companies in Silicon Valley, including industry giants Intel, Cisco and Ebay, and found an industry where African Americans and Latinos are grossly underrepresented when compared to their percentages of the state population. In the study, Blacks comprised less than 3 percent of company employees on average (they are 6.8 percent of the state population), while Hispanics comprised anywhere from 4 to 9 percent of employees at those companies surveyed, despite accounting for 38 percent of the California’s population according to the 2010 Census.


Another study conducted in 2011


by CNN Money culled workforce data from California-based technology companies Intel, Dell and Ingram Data. CNN, too, found diversity in the tech sector to be seriously lacking: whites comprised 64 percent of the workforce in companies surveyed. The next largest group was Asian at 20 percent. Meanwhile, Hispanics comprised only 9 percent and Blacks 6 percent of all employees. The CNN study did not include major companies like Facebook, Apple, Google or Amazon since those companies do not make such employee information public.


Racial stereotyping within the


tech sector is perpetuated by the lack of diversity within the industry, says Dr. James Lai, director of the Ethnic Studies Program at Santa Clara University. Overcoming those stereotypes, he says, can be a real barrier for young minority entrepreneurs, like Cruz and Reed, who are trying to make a name for themselves.


“If you’ve got to pitch [an idea],


you have to have an image. And that image can be used against you, because there are stereotypes that people bring,” says Lai. “They [employers] may see an African American and they may think, ‘Well, how many African Americans do I know in the computer industry?’ And the truth is that there are not that – about one percent in most companies.”


Beating the Odds The young duo’s efforts – Cruz,


like his partner Reed, is also 25 -- to break into the tech industry began in January 2011, with the development of a mobile application for smartphones that they called Zuggol.


Zuggol allows users to set a


personal goal and track progress toward that goal, which is assigned to one of six given categories: art, business, fitness, fashion, education and music. Users can update their goal status according to progress made, and “follow” others on Zuggol pursuing similar quests, to get helpful tips or advice on what is or isn’t working for other people.


For those inevitable moments


of hopelessness, users can look to Zuggol’s “push” page for extra motivation -- the page contains quotes from successful individuals across a variety of professions, from Babe Ruth to Maya Angelou.


In February of 2013, Zuggol


became available on the open market, joining thousands of other mobile applications available for purchase through the Apple Store.


Fittingly, the path taken by


Cruz and Reed to create Zuggol was one forged by perseverance and self-sacrifice in service of a shared goal.


They couldn’t afford to hire a


programmer to build the application, says Cruz, so he taught himself Objective-C, a programming language used in Apple’s current operating systems, over a six-month period.


While Cruz worked on the


technical side, Reed secured investment deals and corporate sponsors such as Muscle Milk and Velvety Wine.


“Initially, motivation was


probably the only thing that kept me going,” Cruz says. “There were times during those six months of coding, I lost all hope -- same with Isaac -- and every single time, I would read quotes or talk to somebody in the tech industry, which helped reignite my motivation.”


Overcoming the odds was nothing new to either Cruz or Reed.


Raised in a family of seven, Reed


was the eldest of five siblings. At the DUO PAGE 11


though,


the media spotlight is turning to controversial comments Jackson has made about the gay community and claims about Barack Obama’s alleged “Muslim perspective”. He’s going to have to convince a divided Virginia GOP and the electorate at large that he is ready for prime time.


Jackson, an ordained minister


and former Massachusetts lawyer, has limited political experience. He campaigned for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate last summer, but garnered less than 5 percent of the vote. His strength lies in a populist appeal that rails against establishment GOP members at odds with the tea party movement.


“The working class in this country


has not gotten representation in either party, I believe,” Russ Simpson, Jackson’s Nelson County campaign coordinator, said Saturday night. “E.W. gives us that ray of hope. I’ve got three kids. They’re in college. It’s hard. You’ve got to have somebody like E.W. Jackson to motivate people. We need more people like him to give that ray of hope because we don’t have it anymore. We’ve just got people butting heads and doing politics on party lines. I’m sick of it.”


But Jackson still has to unify a


state party that seems more divided than ever, with Democrats using the candidate’s comments like a cudgel to bash the fragmented GOP.


“I can see why there is a lot


of concern on the Republican side, because he doesn’t exactly have a track record of being a proven candidate,” Geoff Skelley, media relations coordinator for the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said. “Does that mean he can’t go out and win? Absolutely not. He may pass the test with flying colors, but I do think there is a lot of ammunition out there for Democrats to attack him with.”


Democratic gubernatorial


candidate Terry McAuliffe hosted a conference call Monday where former GOP delegates Vincent Callahan and Katherine Waddell blasted the Republican ticket of gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli, Jackson and Mark Obenshain, who is running for attorney general.


“This ticket is composed of three


men who are focused exclusively on intruding into Virginians’ personal lives. This extremism does not support real Republican ideals and is not supported by the majority of Virginians,” Waddell said on the call.


Jamie Radtke, a tea party activist


E.W. JACKSON: After securing the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor, E.W. Jackson faces a tough road ahead and a divided Republican base.


and Jackson’s opponent during last year’s Senate primary contest, went against Jackson at the convention, backing the more mainstream Pete Snyder ahead of the fourth ballot vote.


Jackson used a convention to his


advantage, bringing in solid delegates and captivating the undecided with a dynamic speech that catapulted him to front-runner status.


“I am running for lieutenant


governor of Virginia for one primary reason, to make sure Virginia remains sovereign and free,” Jackson said during his speech Saturday.


“We want you to fulfill your


dreams, to be able to support your family and to know that your children will be able to have a better life than the life you have had.”


Skelley said Jackson’s triumph,


in a way, resembles Obama’s defeat of presumed front-runner Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary.


“There was this assumption going


in that Hilary Clinton was the odds-on favorite, Obama’s team understood the rules of the game better, how to get delegates counts,” he said. “Jackson and his team apparently had a good understanding of what they needed to do to win.”


But after withstanding a


four-ballot challenge from a deep field of GOP contenders, Jackson must tack his campaign appeal to the broad electorate of Virginia, whose identity is undetermined following the 2012 elections.


Democrats lined up to attack


the candidate minutes after Jackson received the nomination, painting him as more extreme than Cuccinelli, a tea party favorite.


“He’s an intriguing choice for


the Republican Party, especially in light of Ken Cuccinelli’s long history of activism on social issues,” said Craig Brians, chairman of Virginia Tech’s political science department. “(Jackson) seems to be cut of the same cloth, but he poses a serious challenge for Democrats, who oftentimes takes the African-American vote for granted.


“This choice forces Democrats in


Virginia to define themselves in terms of policy and what do they offer the African-American community.”


Jackson’s campaign did not respond to calls requesting comment.


EFFORTS TO INTENTIONALLY SABOTAGE THE PRINTING, DISTRIBUTION OR REPUTATION OF THIS PUBLICATION IS A VIOLATION OF THE US CONSTITUTION’S PROTECTION OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF ANTITRUST LAWS. IF YOU KNOW OF ANYONE PARTICIPATING IN SUCH ACTIONS, PLEASE REPORT IT TO THE US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16