On February 17, 2026, the world lost civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson at the age of 84. Jackson was a figure most remembered for marching alongside Martin Luther King Jr., standing present in the aftermath of his assassination, running historic presidential campaigns, and influencing generations of leaders, including Barack Obama.
But one of his most consequential legacies unfolded far from church pulpits and voting booths. It was inside technology boardrooms and much of Silicon Valley. The Reverend was incredibly instrumental in holding Silicon Valley and the big tech companies accountable, by pushing for them to put into practice diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Long before “DEI” became a slur or before that, a corporate buzzword, Reverend Jackson understood the simple truth that technology would shape the future of society, and if the architects of that future lacked diversity, inequality would be encoded into everyday life. He was well aware that the technology industry was a predominately white male industry not taking into account the millions of people their tech products would affect.
In 2014, fresh out of college at my first job at a tech PR agency, I had the privilege of working alongside Reverend Jackson and his organization, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, to drive PR and press awareness on this initiative that would fundamentally alter Silicon Valley. At the time, the tech industry spoke endlessly about changing the world but it refused to disclose who was actually building it. There were no diversity reports, demographic transparency or accountability. Jackson saw the contradiction immediately.
The Reverend attended shareholder meetings at Google and Meta, and publicly challenged executives to reveal their workforce demographics. In a press interview with CNBC he said:
“These very visible companies, the fastest-growing industry in America and in the world today, have exclusive patterns relative to boards and C-suites and employment and IPOs. We think these companies should be vertically, horizontally reflective of their consumer base.”
Back then, the request was radical. But in 2014, it was enough to make Silicon Valley uncomfortable. And that was exactly the point.
That same year, Reverend Jackson spoke at the Platform Summit, founded by the late Hank Williams, where I was also handling PR and communications. Inside that conference, the industry heard something it wasn’t used to hearing: diversity wasn’t charity, it wasn’t a “nice to have”. It was necessary infrastructure.
At the conference, Jackson argued that technology was not neutral. Algorithms shape opportunity. Platforms shape public discourse. Hiring patterns shape wealth distribution. He recognized that if only white men built systems used by billions, bias would scale globally.
Shortly after this, something unprecedented happened. Major tech companies began releasing diversity reports. From Apple, Google to Meta (formerly Facebook), our tactics were starting the necessary actions and conversations within Silicon Valley.
The numbers released were stark, overwhelmingly white and male. But transparency triggered action. Companies introduced bias training, expanded recruiting pipelines, and began hiring more women and Black and Brown technologists. No the industry didn’t change overnight, but the silence ended, and a ripple effect started to take place.
Years later, amidst George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, the tech industry pledged billions toward racial equity initiatives. Sure, looking back now these were merely performative. But we can’t deny the fact that Black tech founders gained increased venture funding when this was all happening. Not to mention new Black venture capital firms launched. Black accelerators emerged specifically for underrepresented entrepreneurs. Money and opportunity began to flow into Black communities like never before. I believe that all of this was only possible because a foundation had already been laid by Reverend Jackson. It was he who first reframed diversity not as a moral concession but as a business necessity that expanded markets, improved products, and strengthened trust with users.
So by the time tech companies felt public pressure in 2020, they already had a framework for action. The infrastructure of accountability existed because he built it.
Advocating with Reverend Jackson shaped my own career path in ways I couldn’t see at the time.
Throughout my early career, I was often the only Black employee at tech PR agencies. Nearly all clients were white, came from similar educational and social backgrounds, elite schools, insular networks, and a culture built around exclusivity disguised as meritocracy.
Jackson along with my first boss encouraged me to create what didn’t exist: a Black-owned tech PR agency focused on telling the stories of overlooked innovators. Today, that idea became reality. I now run New York City’s first and only Black tech PR agency representing tech founders, startups, and venture capitalists who historically would have been invisible to mainstream tech media.
In 2026, diversity efforts across tech companies and corporate America are facing rollbacks. Budgets are shrinking. Programs are being reframed as optional. Tons of companies are quietly retreating from diversity commitments made just a few years ago.
This is precisely the moment Reverend Jackson warned about.
He positioned diversity as a competitive advantage, not a political initiative. Data has repeatedly shown that companies with inclusive teams outperform peers, retain employees longer, and build stronger customer loyalty. Diversity improves product quality because real-world users are diverse. He understood something many businesses still struggle to grasp in that technology shapes society whether companies intend it to or not. Therefore responsibility is unavoidable.
Reverend Jackson did not protest technology, but rather insisted on participating in shaping it. He forced an industry that prides itself on innovation to innovate socially.
Today, despite much pushback due to the current administration, diversity reports, inclusive recruiting pipelines, and equity initiatives do exist across major tech firms. It’s so important that we honor Reverend Jackson’s legacy of continuing accountability. The future is still being built, and as Reverend Jesse Jackson reminded Silicon Valley, it must be built by all, for all.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
