Statement in Response to Recent Incidents and Rhetoric Targeting Asian Americans

San Jose, CA, March 20, 2020: Just days after September 11th, President George W. Bush gave one of the defining speeches of his Presidency.  In the wake of increasing attacks and rhetoric targeting Muslim Americans, he made clear that xenophobia “should not and will not stand in America.”

Today, we face another grave national threat, and there are again reports of attacks and intimidation targeting a particular ethnic group:  Chinese Americans, and in some cases Asian Americans of other backgrounds as well.

President Bush’s words are no less true today. Xenophobia in all its forms is anathema to America’s core ideals.  Indeed, part of what unites us as Americans is that most of us, or our forebears, were once newcomers here ourselves.

We in California are a state knit together by immigrants, many of Chinese background.  They are our neighbors and colleagues.  They are integral to our school communities and religious congregations.  They are “we”.

Our economy in Silicon Valley relies on talent from abroad like no other place in America.  According to the forthcoming 2020 Silicon Valley Competitiveness & Innovation Project, 59 of every 100 STEM workers in Silicon Valley were born abroad.  One out of every six of our STEM workers hails from mainland China, Hong Kong or Taiwan. In Silicon Valley we welcome – and rely on – talented, creative people from all over the world.

When voices on street corners, in the media or in Washington veer toward nativism, we in Silicon Valley need to remember who we are.  We need to know that vitriol demonizing one group or another is insidious because, even if it comes from a small handful of people, it can infect a country so easily.

This is an infection, though, that doesn’t require the expertise of medical professionals.  It requires that we all stand together.

Mark Lipscomb – VP, Adobe
Amar Panchal – Co-Founder, Akraya
Sonu Ratra – Co-Founder, Akraya
Fumiyasu Hirose – VP & GM, All Nippon Airways
Hannah Kain – CEO, ALOM
Joe Pon – CVP, Applied Materials
Lonnie Coplen – President, ARC
Ken Wilcox – Chairman, Asia Society of Northern California
Rhonda Johnson – President, AT&T – California
James Gutierrez – CEO, Aura
Sharon Ryan – President & Publisher, Bay Area News Group
Don Antonucci – SVP, Blue Shield of California
Stella Li – President, North America BYD
Marc Casto – SVP, Casto Travel
Barry Cinnamon – CEO, Cinnamon Solar
Steve Wilson – VP, Citrix Systems
John Ambroseo – CEO, Coherent
Bob Fickett – President & CEO, Communications & Power Industries
Dan Ammann – CEO, Cruise
Russell Spektor – CEO, Dataknox Solutions
Christina Espinosa-Pieb – Interim President, De Anza College
Aakash Prasad – CEO, Design Everest
Travis Kiyota – SVP, East West Bank
Alexandra Fraser – Managing Partner, Environmental Resources Management
Alan Chiu – CEO, Enya.ai
Mike Howard – CEO, EPRI
David Chun – CEO, Equilar
Denise Noldon – Acting President, Evergreen Valley College
Brian Dorcy – CEO, Excite Credit Union
Belal Hummadi – Founder, ExciteM
Ibi Krukrubo – Managing Partner, EY
Thuy Nguyen – President, Foothill College
Judy Miner – Chancellor, Foothill-De Anza Community College District
Mike Slessor – President & CEO, FormFactor
Lizz Vilardo – CEO, Foundations – Sutter Health Bay Area
Joshua Wilson – CEO & Co-Founder, Freedom Robotics
Martin Schoeppler – CEO, FUJIFILM Dimatix
Joe DeSchryver – EO, Good Samaritan Hospital
Michael Fox – President & CEO, Goodwill Industries of Silicon Valley
Dan Gordon – CEO, Gordon Biersch
Tony Perazzo – Regional Managing Partner, Grant Thornton
Jonathan Nelson – CEO, Hackers & Founders
Patrick Harshman – CEO, Harmonic
Kathleen King – CEO, Healthier Kids Foundation
Sheila Janakos – CEO, Healthy Horizons
Ken Goldman – President, Hillspire
Ron Gonzalez – CEO, Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley
Darlene Gee – SVP, HNTB Corporation
Antonio Neri – President & CEO, HPE
Joy Tan – SVP Public Affairs, Huawei USA
Scott Jamar – VP Industry Relations, Huawei USA
Alden Woodrow – CEO, Ike
Tom Fallon – President & CEO, Infinera
Gary Guthart – President & CEO, Intuitive Surgical
Bruce Cozadd – President & CEO, Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Irene Chavez – SVP, Kaiser Permanente
Kenneth Fong – Managing Director, Kensen Ventures
Rick Wallace – CEO, KLA
Tim Archer – President & CEO, Lam Research
Alex Lofton – CEO, Landed
Julia Hu – CEO, Lark
Brad Bao – CEO, Lime
Mira Veda – CEO, Lipstick & Politics
Bracken Darrell – President & CEO, Logitech
Sanjay Mehrotra – President & CEO, Micron
Chris Metzger – Division Manager – Northern California, Mott Macdonald
Jeff Thomas – SVP, NASDAQ
Stefan Heck – CEO, Nauto
George Kurian – President & CEO, NetApp
Patrick Lo – CEO, NetGear
Raul Vasquez – CEO, Oportun
Maureen O’Connor – President, Palo Alto University
Steve Boyd – CEO, Peloton Technology
Greg Woock –  CEO, Pinger
Elise Cutini – CEO, Pivotal
Vikrum Ayer – VP, Postmates
Ryan Popple – CEO, Proterra
Charles Giancarlo – CEO, Pure Storage
Cliff Burnette – SVP, Rambus
Luc Seraphin – CEO, Rambus
Jim Elliott – CSVP, Samsung Semiconductor
Jed York – CEO, San Francisco 49ers
Bill Nagel – Publisher, San Francisco Chronicle
Rowena Tomaneng – President, San Jose City College
Jared Shawlee – COO, San Jose Earthquakes
Mary Papazian – President, San Jose State University
Eric Thornburg – CEO, San Jose Water Company
Byron Breland – Chancellor, San Jose-Evergreen Community College District
Christine Tomcala – CEO, Santa Clara Family Health Plan
Fr. Kevin O’Brien – President, Santa Clara University
Kimberly Meek – VP, SAP Americas
Rob Sadow – CEO & Co-Founder, Scoop Technologies
Bill McDermott – President & CEO, ServiceNow
Greg Becker – CEO, Silicon Valley Bank
Nicole Taylor – President & CEO, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Pedro Espinoza – Founder & CEO, SmileyGo
Mike Sinyard – CEO, Specialized Bikes
Doug Merritt – CEO, Splunk
Scott Morgan – SVP & Chief Legal Officer, Splunk
Rob Steinberg – Chairman, Steinberg Hart
Celeste Volz Ford – Board Chair & Founder, Stellar Solutions
Tom Werner – CEO, SunPower
Lou Ramondetta – President, Surplus Service
Brian Brennan – SVP, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Carl Guardino – CEO, Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Virginia Klausmeier – CEO, Sylvatex
Michael Hurlston – President & CEO, Synaptics
Dennis Polk – CEO, Synnex
Chi-Foon Chan – Co-CEO, Synopsys
Aart de Geus – Co-CEO, Synopsys
Greg Brower – VP, TDK InvenSense
Todd Harris – President & CEO, Tech CU
Mark Belinsky – COO, The Detection Group
Michele Lew – CEO, The Health Trust
Randy Barth – CEO, Think Together
Cynthia Larive – Chancellor, UC Santa Cruz
PK Agarwal – Dean, UCSC Extension Silicon Valley
Bruce Williams – San Jose Campus Director, University of Phoenix
Dow Wilson – CEO, Varian Medical Systems
Alastair Hood – CEO, Verdafero
Pat Gelsinger – CEO, VMware
Scott Mercer – CEO, Volta Charging
Oliver Cameron – CEO & Co-Founder, Voyage
Jes Pedersen – CEO, Webcor
William Hadaya – CEO, WMH Corporation
Jason Albert – Managing Director, Public Policy, Workday
Jim Shaughnessy – EVP for Corporate Affairs, Workday
Victor Peng – CEO, Xilinx
Eric Raff – CEO, XL Construction
Richard Walker – President & COO, XL Construction
Paul Davis – General Counsel, Xperi
Aicha Evans – CEO, Zoox

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