`Very Lonely.’ The Unsettling Hum of Silicon Valley’s Failure to Hire More Black Workers

When Maxine Waters, the Democratic representative from southern Los Angeles, toured Silicon Valley during the first week of May with fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus, she was blunt about the technology industry's lack of progress hiring black employees. Waters, standing at a lectern in front of a wall of windows at Lyft Inc.'s offices in San Francisco, said she was "floored" to learn that black workers make up 1 or 2 percent of the workforce at several prominent tech companies.

“I’m not about diplomacy,’’ said Waters, threatening regulation. “I’m not urging, I’m not encouraging. I’m about to hit some people across the head with a hammer. I know how to do this and I know how to do it well.’’