Google cancelled a seminar by an alleged anti-Brahmin activist named Thenmozhi Soundararajan in April this year, citing concerns that it might cause “division and rancour” in the workplace.
Tanuja Gupta, Google News’ senior manager, asked Thenmozhi, who is the Executive Director of Equality Labs, to speak to Google News staff. On the occasion of ‘Dalit History Month,’ her address was supposed to raise awareness about ‘caste bias’ and ‘caste discrimination’ in tech companies.
Google was ready to host a talk about caste bias in tech. Then a handful of employees claimed @dalitdiva–a leading advocate on this issue-was Hinduphobic for talking about Dalit civil rights and dominant caste privilege. So Google cancelled her talkhttps://t.co/eKF7tFdGzE
— Nitasha Tiku (@nitashatiku) June 2, 2022
Google, on the other hand, opted not to hold the scheduled event stating that caste discrimination has no place in our company. Google spokesman Shannon Newberry said when asked about the situation, “In our workplace, we also have a very clear, publicly published policy prohibiting retribution and discrimination.”
“We also decided not to proceed with the intended talk, which, rather than bringing our community together and increasing awareness, was causing division and rancour,” she added.
Equality Labs’ Executive Director said that Google employees waged a disinformation campaign against her in order to prevent her from speaking about caste bias. To back up their claims, she said that the staff labelled her as ‘Hinduphobic’ and ‘anti-Hindu.’
Thenmozhi Soundararajan compared herself to an “abuse survivor” who isn’t permitted to speak on the #MeToo movement after being de-platformed by the tech giant for generating workplace conflicts. According to reports, the anti-Brahmin activist wanted to discuss ‘caste equity’ in newsrooms with roughly 60 Google employees.
Seven Google employees, according to Thenmozhi Soundararajan, wrote to management opposing the anti-Brahmin activist’s address. They used ‘inflammatory rhetoric,’ she claimed, to say they would be damaged by her talk.
Tanuja Gupta, her aide, tried to make a pitch for the anti-Brahmin activist again after being vetted by Google. Gupta sent an email to 8,000 South Asian employees with a link to a petition in the hopes of forcing the tech business to submit.
The replies criticized her for creating a societal divide and advocating reverse discrimination in the United States, much to her astonishment. “Most institutions would not go to the lengths that Google went.” It’s ridiculous. “The bigots don’t get to dictate the pace of civil rights discussions,” Thenmozhi Soundararajan argued in her defence.
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