- Apple CEO Tim Cook said equality is “at the core of my beliefs”
- He called on passage of legislation guaranteeing workplace equality
- Cook also called for immigration reform, recounted civil-rights era
- Tech companies have been vocal on gay rights and other issues
(CNN) — In an uncharacteristically personal address, Apple CEO Tim Cook is speaking out about civil rights, saying equality for all is “at the core of my beliefs and values.”
The speech came when Cook was accepting a lifetime achievement award from Auburn University, his alma mater, in New York City last week. He said he recalled seeing a cross burning, a symbol of racism, during the turbulent civil-rights struggles of the 1960s in Alabama.
“This image was permanently imprinted in my brain and it would change my life forever,” he said. “I could never understand it, but I knew then that America’s, and Alabama’s, history would always be scarred by the hatred that it represented.”
Cook called on Congress to act on immigration reform and to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013, which would “demand equality and non-discrimination for all employees, regardless of who they love.”
His comments at times took on a personal tone.
“I have seen and I have experienced many other types of discrimination, and all of them were rooted in the fear of people that were different than the majority,” he said.
He said working at Apple has been different.
“I was very fortunate that my life’s journey took me to Apple,” Cook said. “In addition to finding a company and a founder unlike any other, I found at Apple a company that deeply believed in advancing humanity, through its products and through the equality of all of its employees.”
Cook said Apple works to ensure all of its products are accessible to people with physical and mental disabilities, not to make more money but “because it is just and right.”
Apple is one of several Silicon Valley companies that have been vocal on civil issues like immigration reform, nondiscrimination and same-sex marriage.
Last year, Google launched a campaign called
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