Adding a strong voice against the growing notes of intolerance against Muslims in the U.S., Google's CEO Sundar Pichai has written about his experience as an immigrant from India 22 years ago and how he flourished because of the tolerance of the American society.
Business tycoon Donald Trump, who is a top runner for the Republican Party presidential candidature, >had recently called for closing the U.S. to Muslim immigrants . The U.S. is set to take in a large number of Syrian refugees.
In a blog post titled "Let’s not let fear defeat our values", on Medium.com, Mr. Pichai says: "The open-mindedness, tolerance, and acceptance of new Americans is one of the country’s greatest strengths and most defining characteristics."
He writes that the mix of voices and cultures and the presence of different people with different perspectives was what made Google an exciting and special place to work. "I firmly believe that whether you’re building a company or leading a country, a diverse mix of voices and backgrounds and experiences leads to better discussions, better decisions, and better outcomes for everyone," he adds.
He finds statements that say "our country would be a better place without the voices, ideas and the contributions of certain groups of people, based solely on where they come from, or their religion" extremely disheartening, without making any direct references to Mr. Trump.
He also speaks of his own internal debate whether to write about the issue, as it could just fuel the fire, but concludes that "I feel we must speak out — particularly those of us who are not under attack."
