Google pledges $12 million funding to fight racism

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company will make a donation of $12 million to organizations working to address racial inequities.

"We'll be giving USD 12 million in funding to organizations working to address racial inequities. Our first grants of USD 1 million each will go to our long-term partners at the Center for Policing Equity and the Equal Justice Initiative," Pichai said in an email written to Google employees on Wednesday.

"And we'll be providing technical support through our Google.org Fellows program. This builds on the $32 million we have donated to racial justice over the past five years. We'll also offer $25 million in Ad Grants to help organizations fighting racial injustice provide critical information," he added.

'Black Lives Matter' protests have intensified across the US after George Floyd, an African-American man, passed away after having a knee pressed into his neck by a police officer identified as Derek Chauvin.

Paying tribute to Floyd, Pichai said, "In the meantime, I wanted to provide space for us to come together as a community. Today at 1:00pm PDT we'll be standing together to honor the memories of Black lives lost in an 8 minute and 46 second moment of silence."

"The length of the moment of silence represents the amount of time George Floyd suffered before he was killed. It's meant to serve as a visceral reminder of the injustice inflicted on Floyd and so many others," he added.

Pichai also revealed that during the last week's internal giving campaign, employees contributed $2.5 million.

"As a result of last week's internal giving campaign, I'm pleased to share that you all have contributed an additional USD 2.5 million in donations that we're matching. This represents the largest Googler giving campaign in our company's history, with both the largest amount raised by employees and the broadest participation," Pichai said.

Pichai concluded by saying that the company will work closely with our Black community to develop initiatives and product ideas that support long-term solutions.