VMware’s Pat Gelsinger: ‘Today My Prayer Is For Equality’
‘During this time of great global hardship, even more acutely within the black community, we’re all deeply reminded how much we must be neighbors,’ says VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger on Twitter.
As protests continue across the country around social injustice and anti-racism, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger voiced his support of racial equality, saying “there is no time or place for racial injustice.”
Gelsinger, who is also a humanitarian activist who donates significantly to charities across the globe, said, “During this time of great global hardship, even more acutely within the black community, we’re all deeply reminded how much we must be neighbors,” he said on Twitter. “Today my prayer is for equality – there is no time or place for racial injustice.”
"Love your neighbor as yourself” Matt 22:39. During this time of great global hardship, even more acutely within the black community, we’re all deeply reminded how much we must be neighbors. Today my prayer is for equality - there is no time or place for racial injustice.
— Pat Gelsinger (@PGelsinger) May 30, 2020
[Related: VMware COO On Salary Freezes, Pay Cuts: ‘This Too Shall Pass’]
Several people, including many VMware employees, commented on Gelsinger’s Twitter post by thanking him for speaking out.
Thank you sir! I’ve been waiting on this.
— Andre’a Streeter (@CorpLifeBalance) May 31, 2020
VMware’s Gelsinger is a devoted Christian who frequently donates money to charities to help those in needs, sometimes in extreme ways. In 2018, for example, Gelsinger raised more than $100,000 to help construct a high school for girls in Kenya by hiking Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, in a move to support orphan and vulnerable children and their families.
Last year, Gelsinger was voted best CEO in America in 2019 among all U.S. large companies by Glassdoor by receiving a 99 percent approval rating from users. Glassdoor is an employment website where employees anonymously review companies and their management.
Gelsinger’s message comes as thousands of Americans take to the streets across cities like Baltimore, Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and New York to protest the recent killing of George Floyd after he was pinned at the neck to the ground by Minneapolis police officers.
One President and COO of a VMware partner, who’s headquarters are just a few miles outside of Baltimore, Maryland, said his company and customers have seen businesses effected several times over the past few years by protests around racial inequality.
“We typically are in the downtown [Baltimore] area often -- not too much recently because of COVID – but this weekends protest aren’t new to us,” said the solution provider President, who declined to be identified. “We’ve always stood with our community and neighbors here to fight against racism and for criminal justice as it pertains to race in our city. … Pat [Gelsinger] has always been an outspoken CEO and is just a really good person and a leader whose voice on these issues resonates.”
Many technology leaders and influencers spanning from Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins to Intel CEO Bob Swan are taking to social media to voice support against social injustice.
Intel’s Swan said his company is pledging $1 million in donations to anti-racism and social justice groups in response to the "senseless acts of racism and violence that recently took the lives” of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
VMware’s chief operating officer, Sanjay Poonen, also took to Twitter to stand against “racism, violence and hate.”
I've been talking to my close friends in the Black community during this brutal week - words cannot describe the pain from the #GeorgeFloyd murder. I stand with all of them against racism, violence & hate. Things must change in this country. I pray for justice, equality & peace. https://t.co/nAwqN9GeqU
— Sanjay Poonen (@spoonen) May 29, 2020