Diversity is good, except when it isn't.  When you see a Politico headline that reads " Black caucus brings diversity push to Silicon Valley," it  looks a little odd, because an exclusionary group that permits people of only one race, the Black Caucus, is pushing a different group, Silicon Valley, to have more diversity.  In fact, a few years ago, Congressman Stephen Cohen, who has a lot of black constituents, requested permission to join the Black Caucus but was refused because he was white.  Ditto for the United Negro College Fund and other groups that focus on people of one race while hypocritically calling on other races to support them.

“My district is right next to Silicon Valley, and for years and years and years, my constituents have been part of those who have not had access to these opportunities, even the ones who have the qualifications, background and skills,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who’s helping to lead the black caucus’ tour next week.

Does anyone really believe that Silicon Valley is turning away thousands of qualified black engineers?

“We always say diversity is good for business, and the tech industry is beginning to understand that,” she said in an interview.

Why is diversity good for business?  Aren't people with the best skills good for business?  If diversity is good for business, why is it bad for politics, for exclusionary groups like the Black Caucus?

Joining Lee on the trip are CBC’s Chairman G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). They plan to meet with senior executives at Apple, Google, Intel, Pandora and SAP to deliver their message.

“Our hope is that [tech companies] embrace the importance of creating a tech pipeline, and will take meaningful steps to ensure the availability of opportunities for African-Americans at every level of the tech industry,” Butterfield said in a statement.

What is a "tech pipeline"?  I thought liberals didn't like pipelines.  There are no "tech pipelines" as far as I know.  What does exist, however, are college and grad school graduates who apply for jobs.  Blacks apply in fewer numbers than their percentage in the population.  Why would this be Google's or Apple's fault or responsibility?

Apple’s latest data, released in 2014, showed a U.S. employee base that was 55 percent white and 15 percent Asian, with 11 percent Hispanic and 7 percent black, and a global workforce that was 70 percent male. “As CEO, I’m not satisfied with the numbers on this page,” CEO Tim Cook wrote at the time.

How Orwellian is this?  Cook is not satisfied with his own performance?  Is he accusing himself of being a racist?  It's like he's speaking about himself in the third person.  He's been a CEO for years.  If he's not happy with this, why hasn't he done something about it?  The answer is that it's all just talk, an attempt to keep the Black Caucus off his back.  Cook and the others have to act as though they're taking steps to increase the number of black employees when they know full well that they are powerless to increase the labor supply.

“Many of these companies are federal contractors, first of all, and they have an obligation to be inclusive,” Lee said. “We want to see [diversity] plans from each company, and see how they’re going to invest.”

What is a diversity plan?  What kind of plan can there be other than to hire the best-qualified employee for each slot?

The group is also asking firms to publish more nuanced diversity data, work directly with historically black colleges and universities to train potential recruits[.]

Is that the job of a tech company, to train recruits?  Isn't that the job, of say, a school?

Pandora acknowledged it has “work that we need to do,” adding that “the CBC will certainly add an important voice in this conversation.”

I'm sure it will. 

Exit question: Do you find it more amusing or alarming that these very liberal companies (Apple, Google) are submitting self-criticisms to satisfy the racial shakedown crowd?

This article was produced by NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.