A major civil rights organization in the country has called on tech billionaire Elon Musk to link the safety scandal that led to the grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 planes to diversity hiring efforts. Two went after Elon Musk on Wednesday.
Dozens of 737 Max 9 planes have been grounded since Friday after a loose bolt blew the plane's window panels mid-air. Upon inspection, similar loose bolts were found on other aircraft, raising major safety concerns.
Following this news, Company X owner Elon Musk claimed, without evidence, that diverse hiring practices at Boeing and United Airlines were making air travel less safe. One of Musk's responses drew attention to a racist post by another user speculating about the IQ of black airline employees.
“People will die for the following reasons.” [diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)],” 1 post by Musk has been read.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson condemned the comments and attacked Musk and X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) for harboring hate speech.
“Reminder to Elon Musk“Providing a platform for the spread of hate speech and white supremacist conspiracy theories kills people,” he wrote. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion foster a more inclusive society. They are not the same. We are not the same.”
X has come under fire and legal scrutiny for relaxing its content moderation policies. The majority of the site's advertisers have left since Musk bought the platform in 2022, and the European Union launched an investigation into the site's moderation practices last year.
Marc Morial, leader of the National Urban League, called the remarks “abhorrent and pathetic.” Statement to NBC News On Wednesday, Musk pointed out that his own Tesla has been sued over allegations of racial harassment in the workplace.
In a statement to NBC News, Morial cited the lawsuit's allegations and said, “Musk's company not only refused to investigate the complaints or take any steps to end the abuse, but also refused to file complaints or speak out against the abuse.” “We retaliated violently against the employees who did so.”
“All we need to hear from Mr. Musk about workplace diversity is an apology,” he said.
Despite a spate of near crashes last year, air travel remains one of the safest forms of transportation and is subject to strict safety inspections and regulations.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
