Oakland, CA – Today, Twitter publicly disclosed its demographic data and issued a statement in response to a  petition from ColorOfChange.org and Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Push Coalition calling on the tech company to release its demographic data and hold a public forum on how to solve the Silicon Valley diversity problem.  In response, Rashad Robinson, executive director of ColorOfChange.org, released the following statement.

“After thousands of ColorOfChange members raised their voices last week, Twitter took a good firststep in the right direction. Transparency and a public commitment to improving the recruitment and retention of Black, Latino, and women employees are critical first steps. But the hard work begins now. We will continue to shine a light on Silicon Valley’s diversity problem, and push tech companies toward real inclusion at every level.”

“Twitter benefits a great deal from the creativity, energy, and intelligence of Black folks engaging on the platform — both financially and in terms of popularity. Twitter’s blog post recognizes that there is a problem and states a commitment to fixing it. So we invite Twitter to work with ColorOfChange and our allies in hosting a public forum that addresses the company’s plan to recruit and retain more Black talent. We stand ready to help and hope that they will be a leader in this effort to make Silicon Valley a better representation of America.”

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With over 900,000 members,ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest online civil rights organization.