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Timnit Gebru Profile picture
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9 Dec, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Don't paint me as an "angry Black woman" for whom you need "de-escalation strategies" for. This thread is just the beginning of the toxicity I dealt with since before I even joined Google and I haven't said anything specific yet. 1\
"...from de-escalation strategies..." De-escalation-->Replace that with leadership accountability. This statement implies that I was out of line and that their failure was NOT discriminating OR retaliating against me, NOR having me face a hostile work environment daily. 2\
Nope. Take a look at @shaft's thread here outlining similar strategies for those who are "troublemakers."

Take responsibility for your toxic leaders, HR, Legal and other entities who harass and discriminate against people like me and protect toxicity. 3\
Finally it does not say "I'm sorry for what we did to her and it was wrong." What it DOES say is "it seeded doubts and led some in our community to question their place at Google." So I see this as "I'm sorry for how it played out but I'm not sorry for what we did to her yet." 4\

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More from @timnitGebru

Timnit Gebru Profile picture
9 Dec
People were checking in on me making sure I'm eating. @IfeomaOzoma even reminded me to hydrate :) This is reminding me of how when I joined Google, I lost 10 pounds in less than a month because of the toxicity I immediately met./1
I used to joke that I had the Google -10 rather than the Google 15--most people say they gain weight when they join. Sexism at Brain was notorious in my whisper networks--didn't hear about racism tho because if you have no Black people you avoid that problem right?/2
I had a meeting first with Samy and then @JeffDean asking each of them what they were planning on doing about this and a number of other issues. I did not feel comfortable signing my offer because there were so many red flags--so many issues I saw even before joining./3
Read 7 tweets
Timnit Gebru Profile picture
5 Dec
1/Man there’s so much to pick apart. Let’s start with one thing. I want to ask if Jeff Dean has looked at the publication approval policy that he keeps on mentioning in his email. Like, for example, a simple look at the website? Let’s read.
2/First off “Start the PubApprove process at least 1 week in advance of any deadline”. Okay, not sure where the 2 weeks in Jeff’s email came from.
3/ But ALSO “The perfect policy” “There is no such thing as the perfect policy. Fortunately Googlers like to do the right thing. Please do that here—read the policy and do what makes sense.”
Read 6 tweets
Timnit Gebru Profile picture
4 Dec
I have a suspicion that HR research BP Malini Rao had a lot to do with this. And my best friend Kate from legal who threw me and @kat_heller under the bus before. They’ve been looking for this opportunity, and @JeffDean just works with them to do these things to people it seems.
They have had it in for me since day 1. So much to say about this but I’ll save it for later. Many stories about what they said and did (about me to others). Malini Rao, I had also heard, had a huge hand in pushing out another woman out of research a while ago, a DEI advocate.
Remember when I said that every time I wrote an email to a list that’s supposed to be for women and allies I got harassed? Who do you think by? And you have leaders who are talking heads about DEI working with known toxic HR BPs.
Read 4 tweets
Timnit Gebru Profile picture
4 Dec
My experience reminds me of this radio lab episode wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radio…. I think one story is how Stanford reduced lawsuits by just treating patient’s families as humans, rather than liabilities. It’s dumbfounding how Google people thought this was the best recourse for them.
It didn’t have to get to this AT ALL. Simple dialogue rather than constant lawyer speak that you know is coming from people who are just waiting for an in. I even wonder if it came from my best friend the lawyer who threw me and @kat_heller under the bus last year?
Treating people as liabilities and just ordering them around rather than simple dialogue, escalated things unnecessarily. In what world does it make sense to respond to conditions asking for meetings and understanding reaearch parameters, by saying nope bye.
Read 4 tweets
Timnit Gebru Profile picture
3 Dec
Let me be very careful since I know what I'm dealing with and they can use everything I say against me.
The email says "Thanks for making your conditions clear. We cannot agree to #1 and #2 as you are requesting. We respect your decision to leave Google as a result, and we are accepting your resignation."
"However, we believe the end of your employment should happen faster than your email reflects because certain aspects of the email you sent last night to non-management employees in the brain group reflect behavior that is inconsistent with the expectations of a Google manager."
Read 5 tweets
Timnit Gebru Profile picture
3 Dec
I was fired by @JeffDean for my email to Brain women and Allies. My corp account has been cutoff. So I've been immediately fired :-)
I would post my email here but my corp account has been cutoff. I feel bad for my teammates but for me its better to know the beast than to pretend. @negar_rz didn't even have any idea things had escalated this quickly.
I need to be very careful what I say so let me be clear. They can come after me. No one told me that I was fired. You know legal speak, given that we're seeing who we're dealing with. This is the exact email I received from Megan who reports to Jeff
Read 7 tweets

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